A Representative Microbial Sampling Method for Large Commercial Containers of Raw Beef Based on Purge†

Abstract

The purge from beef combos (a boxed collection of beef trimmings) was tested as a means of representatively sampling the microbial content of this raw product. In the first experiment, purge was sampled from model beef combos that had been inoculated with bovine feces. Data from this experiment indicated a strong correlation (r = 0.94) between the total aerobic bacteria counts derived from the purge samples of a model beef combo and the total aerobic bacteria present in a rinse sample of the entire model beef combo. In a second experiment, two 500-g meat pieces were inoculated with an antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli O157:H7 and placed at various levels within a 75-cm meat column. The marked bacteria were retrievable from the purge of the meat column after 24 h, showing that bacteria are carried downward into the purge. During the third part of the study, 90 beef combos (~900 kg beef/combo) were randomly selected at the receiving dock of a commercial grinding facility and sampled using both purge and concurrently used 11-g core samples. Purge samples from these combos recovered significantly greater numbers of mesophilic and psychrotrophic aerobic bacteria, coliforms, and E. coli than core samples from the same combos. Additionally, coliforms and E. coli were recoverable from 100% and 80%, respectively, of the purge samples taken, whereas core samples were only able to recover 60% and 40%, respectively, from the same combos. These findings indicate that a purge sample from a beef combo is a more efficacious sampling method for determining the general bacterial profile and identifying the presence of coliforms and E. coli than randomly taken core samples.