Abstract
Cooling the pork half-carcasses in a refrigerating chamber with showering had no significant impact on their surface temperature. Still, it reduced the core temperature of the meat in 1 hour after cooling compared with air-cooling. pH-value of all pork half-carcasses that were subjected to cooling with the showering method, as well as the final processing of the pork with suspensions of Lactobacillus sakei and Leuconostoc carnosum in 1 hour and on the 4th day of storage in a chilled condition was within the limits typical for fresh and high-quality meat. The greatest weight loss of the pork half-carcasses occurred during the first 24 hours when they were being cooled. The weight loss of the pork half-carcasses in a chilled condition during 1 day when they were being cooled in a refrigerating chamber without the use of showering was 2.27%, when they were being cooled with the use of showering – 1.65%, when they were being cooled with the use of showering and final processing with SafePro® В-SF-43 (Leuconostoc carnosum) – 1.61% and SafePro® В-2 (Lactobacillus sakei) – 1.25% in comparison with the output of a hot carcass. Microorganism cultures of strains SafePro® B-SF-43 and SafePro® B-2, when they are applied at a dose of 106/cm2, had contributed to a colonization of the meat with the lactic-acid microorganisms and a significant decrease in the number of QMAFAnM in the neck and spine areas in 1 hour after cooling. S. aureus, Salmonella spp., and L. monocytogenes were not detected in the meat of the pork half-carcasses in all processing options during 4 days of storage in a chilled condition.