Decontaminating beef for Escherichia coli O157:H7

Beef lean, fat, and connective tissues were inoculated with Escherichia coli O157:H7 before and after a prewashing procedure to compare the efficacy of prewashing and no prewashing on bacterial adherence and, consequently, on the removal of bacteria from the inoculated surfaces. Prewashing consisted of spraying tissues with tap water before inoculation. Final washing with disinfectant solutions compared the efficacy of several chemicals for the removal or destruction of E. coli O157:H7. The results showed that prewashing was very effective in reducing the numbers of bacterial cells on beef tissues, mainly lean tissue, in the control samples which received final washing with water. An opposite effect of prewashing was observed when disinfectant solutions were used for final washing; this may be due to dilution by water carried on the tissues after prewashing. The efficacy of chemicals was dependent on the type of exposed tissue. Hydrogen peroxide (3%) was more efficient in the removal of E. coli O157:H7 from connective tissues, with reductions greater than 4 log CFU/cm2, compared to a normally washed control (P < 0.01). Chlorhexidine (0.1%) was very efficient on fat and lean tissues, causing reductions over 5 log CFU/cm2 on not prewashed fat and lean tissues, compared to the control (P < 0.01). Acetic acid (5%) was the least effective, decreasing the number of CFU by under 1 log/cm2 as compared to the control; and no statistically significant difference was found among tissues, even though the removal of bacteria seemed less in lean tissue compared to fat or connective tissues.