Use of household steam cleaners to control microbial quality of animal carcasses in small and very small meat processing plants

This study investigated the efficacy of three household steam cleaners, S1, S2 and S3, in reducing the populations of artificially-inoculated Escherichia coli O157:H7 or Listeria monocytogenes on surfaces of pork skin as well as naturally-occurring pathogenic and spoilage bacterial populations on freshly-slaughtered beef (n = 72) and hog (n = 72) carcasses in four small or very small meat-processing plants in Georgia. The application of steam generated by S1, S2 or S3 for 180 s significantly reduced the population of L. monocytogenes, E. coli O157:H7, total aerobes and thermoduric bacteria on the surface of pork skin (P 0.05). The treatment for 60 s with S1 significantly reduced the microflora at rump, midline, and neck regions of beef carcasses as well as ham, belly, and jowl regions of hog carcasses (P 0.05). Results suggest that household steam cleaners could be used as a critical control measure in small or very small meat-processing plants.