SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE AS A POTENTIAL INTERVENTION FOR GROUND PORK DECONTAMINATION

Ground meat has been frequently implicated as a vehicle of pathogenic bacteria. Once microorganisms contaminating the surfaces are embedded within the comminuted meat, they become difficult to inactivate due to the clumpy structure. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of decontaminating ground pork with super-critical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) treatment at various conditions (temperatures: 40, 45C; pressures: 100, 120, 140 bar; and treatment times: 20, 30, 40 min). The reduction of microorganisms in ground pork ranged from 1.66 to 2.42 log cfu/g (total mesophilic plate counts, 1.66; Listeria monocytogenes, 2.42; and Salmonella Typhimurium, 2.21 log cfu/g) following SC-CO2 treatment at 45C and 140 bar for 40 min. Even though solid foods were generally difficult to control with SC-CO2, our results indicate that it can be used to reduce the levels of microbes in ground pork through rapid diffusion. Thus, SC-CO2 can be suggested as helpful and novel devices for improving the microbiological safety of comminuted meat products.