Bacteria in meat - EFR 5-43

Bill Evers will be in Chicago from Friday, October 27, 1995 through Thursday, November 2, 1995 attending the American Dietetic Association's Annual Meeting and Exposition. Two issues of EFR are being sent this week (numbers 43 and 44). This is the FIRST of the two issues.

Issues surrounding food safety and controlling exposure to harmful organisms are complex. As noted below, just killing off bacteria in general may do more harm than good.

Excerpted from FOOD CHEMICAL NEWS, August 14, 1995, Page 20

The recent drive to reduce the number of microorganisms in ground beef may have something to do with the recent increase in foodborne disease outbreaks, according to the University of Nevada's James Jay, who presented a talk at a meeting of the International Association of Milk, Food and Environmental Sanitarians.

The meat industry has been pushing harder to sterilize its products since the late 1970s. This is also the time when the largest outbreaks on record of botulism, hemorrhagic colitis, listeriosis and salmonellosis have occurred.

Dr. Jay suggests that materials used to clean meat and the work areas where it is processed are reducing not just the "bad" bacteria but the other organisms which are known to be antagonistic toward pathogens. Without these "good" bacteria to compete with the pathogens, the bad bacteria that are left can grow much more quickly.

Jay pointed out that the attempt by Congress, courts and public interest groups to scrub clean these products is not realistic. There should be good sanitation in the meat industry but Jay is concerned that the low numbers of non-pathogenic microorganisms on meat will leave the meat open to worse problems in the event a worker unintentionally contaminates the carcass.

Jay would like more research into what would happen if good bacteria were added back onto a carcass. Yogurt commonly has bacteria added back, and Jay noted that it has an excellent safety record.