Microbial Flora of Livers, Kidneys and Hearts from Beef, Pork and Lamb: Effects of Refrigeration, Freezing and Thawing. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Aerobic plate counts (APC) of livers, kidneys and hearts obtained from beef, pork and lamb soon after slaughter were nearly always <104 and often <103 per cm2. Differences in APC of different sites of the same liver, kidney or heart, within each species, were not significant (P>0.05). APC of livers, kidneys and hearts from pork and lamb after storage for 1, 3 or 5 days at 2 C were not significantly different (P>0.05) from those at day 0. APC of beef livers, kidneys and hearts after 5 days at 2 C differed significantly (P<0.05) from those at day 0, 1 and 3. Temperature abuse of fresh organs for 6-12 h at 30 C before freezing caused major increases in count. Frozen storage of livers, kidneys and hearts (4 days at -20 C) did not cause significant changes in APC. The initial microbial flora of fresh livers, kidneys and hearts was varied with coryneform bacteria and Micrococcus sp. often constituting a major part (>25%) of the microbial flora. After storage for 5 days at 2 C, Pseudomonas sp. more often became a major part of the microbial flora of liver samples. Frozen storage for 4 days at -20 C did not change the microbial flora of beef samples greatly; in pork and lamb, coryneform bacteria more frequently became a major part of the microbial flora after freezing. Changes in pH of livers, kidneys and hearts during storage for 5 days at 2 C were small.

published proceedings

  • J Food Prot

altmetric score

  • 3

author list (cited authors)

  • Hanna, M. O., Smith, G. C., Savell, J. W., McKEITH, F. K., & Vanderzant, C.

citation count

  • 41

complete list of authors

  • Hanna, MO||Smith, GC||Savell, JW||McKEITH, FK||Vanderzant, C

publication date

  • January 1982