Impact of Antimicrobial Carcass Washes and Processing Techniques on Quality Attributes of Beef Frankfurters

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of antimicrobial carcass washes on beef trim in the production of frankfurters. Twenty-four beef carcasses had different antimicrobial wash treatments (TRTs) randomly applied during the harvest procedure: 82 °C water (CON), peroxyacetic acid (PAA), or lactic acid (LA). Frankfurters were produced using carcass trim at two different batter temperature processes (PROC): 4 °C (LTP) and 21 °C (HTP). Frankfurters were analyzed for processing yield (PY), emulsion stability (ES), instrumental external and internal color (CIE L*, a*, b*), purge loss, texture, and sensory analysis. TRT had very little impact on frankfurter characteristics with a difference found in ES water and instrumental hardness (p < 0.05). PROC impacted ES water, ES fat, PY, instrumental springiness, external and internal color, sensory hardness, cohesion, and juiciness (p < 0.05). However, no TRT × PROC interactions were found to be significant (p > 0.05). These data indicate that antimicrobial carcass washes had little impact on frankfurter quality, while the processing technique impacted several frankfurter quality characteristics. This indicates that processors can impact frankfurter composition via processing techniques without concern of antimicrobial washes influencing frankfurter quality.