[Effect of slaughterhouse capacity on the hygienic production of beef]

Studied was the effect of the capacity of a meat producing enterprise on the hygiene in the production of beef. It was found that beef produced at the small regional slaughterhouses remained 1.29 to 3.5 times more strongly contaminated with organisms than the meat obtained at export meat combines. The distribution of the total number of organisms, mesophiles, psychrophiles, coli forms, proteolytic ones, staphylococci, yeasts, and moulds on the surface of carcasses was not following a definite pattern. The region of the thigh was shown to be most contaminated. First among the surface microflora of the slaughtered cattle ranked mesophiles (up to 74.79 per cent), followed by psychrophiles (up to 55.69 per cent).