Microbiological safety of aged meat
Author
EFSA Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ)
Koutsoumanis, Konstantinos
Allende, Ana
Alvarez-Ordóñez, Avelino
Bover-Cid, Sara
Chemaly, Marianne
De Cesare, Alessandra
Herman, Lieve
Hilbert, Friederike
Lindqvist, Roland
Nauta, Maarten
Peixe, Luisa
Ru, Giuseppe
Simmons, Marion
Skandamis, Panagiotis
Suffredini, Elisabetta
Blagojevic, Bojan
Van Damme, Inge
Hempen, Michaela
Messens, Winy
Bolton, Declan
Publication date
2023-01-19ISSN
1831-4732
Abstract
The impact of dry-ageing of beef and wet-ageing of beef, pork and lamb on microbiological hazards and spoilage bacteria was examined and current practices are described. As ‘standard fresh’ and wet-aged meat use similar processes these were differentiated based on duration. In addition to a description of the different stages, data were collated on key parameters (time, temperature, pH and aw) using a literature survey and questionnaires. The microbiological hazards that may be present in all aged meats included Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, enterotoxigenic Yersinia spp., Campylobacter spp. and Clostridium spp. Moulds, such as Aspergillus spp. and Penicillium spp., may produce mycotoxins when conditions are favourable but may be prevented by ensuring a meat surface temperature of −0.5 to 3.0°C, with a relative humidity (RH) of 75–85% and an airflow of 0.2–0.5 m/s for up to 35 days. The main meat spoilage bacteria include Pseudomonas spp., Lactobacillus spp. Enterococcus spp., Weissella spp., Brochothrix spp., Leuconostoc spp., Lactobacillus spp., Shewanella spp. and Clostridium spp. Under current practices, the ageing of meat may have an impact on the load of microbiological hazards and spoilage bacteria as compared to standard fresh meat preparation. Ageing under defined and controlled conditions can achieve the same or lower loads of microbiological hazards and spoilage bacteria than the variable log10 increases predicted during standard fresh meat preparation. An approach was used to establish the conditions of time and temperature that would achieve similar or lower levels of L. monocytogenes and Yersinia enterocolitica (pork only) and lactic acid bacteria (representing spoilage bacteria) as compared to standard fresh meat. Finally, additional control activities were identified that would further assure the microbial safety of dry-aged beef, based on recommended best practice and the outputs of the equivalence assessment.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
663/664 - Food and nutrition. Enology. Oils. Fat
Pages
101
Publisher
Wiley Open Access
Is part of
EFSA Journal
Citation
Koutsoumanis, Konstantinos, Ana Allende, Avelino Alvarez-Ordóñez, Sara Bover‐Cid, Marianne Chemaly, Alessandra De Cesare, Lieve Herman et al. 2023. "Microbiological safety of aged meat". EFSA Journal 21 (1). doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2023.7745
Program
Funcionalitat i Seguretat Alimentària
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2555]
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