Bacterial Quality and Prevalence of Foodborne Pathogens in Edible Offal from Slaughterhouses in Korea

Edible offal meats have recently received significant attention worldwide. However, studies evaluating the microbial quality of diverse edible offal and specifically investigating contamination by pathogens that cause foodbone illnesses are rare. Our study was conducted to investigate the microbiological quality of six kinds of edible offal produced from 11 pigs and 8 cattle slaughterhouses in the Republic of Korea and the prevalence of pathogenic microorganisms such as Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, Staphylococcus aureus,. and Escherichia coli O157:H7 in these products. The values for aerobic plate counts, conform counts, and E. coli counts in red offal were 1.00 to 6.70, 0 (below 10 CPU) to 4.78, and 0 to 4.00 log CFU/g, respectively. For green offal, the values were 3.00 to 7.00, 1.48 to 6.30, and 0 to 6.00 log CFU/g, respectively. The most frequently detected foodborne pathogen was Salmonella (23.8% prevalence in pig offal and 7.1% prevalence in cattle offal), followed by C. perfringens (11.1 and 7.1%, respectively) and S. aureus (12.7 and 2.4%, respectively). None of the offal samples tested positive for E. coli 0157:H7. Considering the microbial quality of offal from Korean slaughterhouses and the prevalence of foodborne pathogens in this material, more refined hygienic standards such as a hazard analysis critical control point system for processing, packing, and transporting edible offal are necessary for preventing further contamination.