The bacteriological quality of British beef 2. Frozen minced beef

Frozen minced beef was obtained from five commercial wholesale producers, and the aerobic plate count, and counts of coliforms, Escherichia coli type 1 and Staphylococcus aureus, determined. No E. coli O157:H7 or salmonellas were detected. The results were evaluated in relation to: (1) two earlier surveys involving fresh mince purchased from retail butchers and supermarkets in the UK (Roberts et al., 1980; Hudson et al., 1986); and (2) the standards set out in Annex II of the Minced Meat Directive 94/65/EC. In respect to the latter, none of the 99 samples of mince examined was unsatisfactory.