Contamination and spoilage

of meat and meat product

Manish Thapaliya
Meat
All the parts of cattle, sheep, goat, pig, poultry, rabbits
and game suitable for human consumption

Technically : Meat is coincided as muscle tissue

containing removal fatty tissues, and non-removable
visible (inter-muscular) or invisible (intra-muscular)
fat.

मासु : मानिसले खान योग्य पशुको मासु |

Contd…
पशु : गाई, गोरु, साढे, बाहेक भाले जातको खसी तुलायीएको वा नतुलायीएको बोका,
भेडा, च्यांग्रा, सुँगुर, बँगुर, राँगो, बँदेल, खरायो वा मासुको लागि योग्य देखिएको भैँसी,
बाख्रा, पोथी जातको भेँडा, सुँगुर, बँगुर, च्यांग्रा वा खरायो सम्झन पर्दछ र यो शब्दले भाले
र पोथी जातको कु खुरा, हासं, परेवा वा मासुको लागि पालिएको अन्य पशुपन्छी सम्झनु
पर्दछ |
Contd…
Meat product: Any product for human consumption
that contains meat
Carcass: Body of slaughtered animal after bleeding
and dressing
Fresh meat: that has not been treated for its
preservation, but just refrigeration
Minced meat: with added salt less than 1%
Prepared Meat and meat product: intact cell structure
are not damaged (Ham, Bacon etc)
Nutritional value of meat
Good source of high quality protein (easily digestible
contains optimal essential AAs), vitamin B12, B1 (pork)
Major compositional defects: calcium content is low
Low C:P ratio
Yearly meat production : 2,19,205 m ton (2010/11)
Meat availability : 9.5 kg/person/year
(FAO: 14 kg/person/year)
2/3 of the carcass is suitable for human consumption
visible fat (neglecting), with fat- 80%
Biochemical composition
Glycogen content depends upon the condition of
slaughtered animal
Water : 65-75%, of the muscles; strongly bound: 4-5%
(cannot be released, if released alter the meat
composition); loosely bound : 60-70%
aw : 0.4
IP : 5.5
Protein : 15-20%
Actin & myosine : 60% of muscle; collagen : 20%
Enzymes, myoglobins, small peptides : 20%
Contd..
Fat: variable ranges from 1-20%, (pork- more than 20%
; Blue cow- 1%)
Visible fat- adipose tissue, subcutaneous
Inter-muscular fat: in between muscle bundles
Intra-muscular fat: marbling between muscle fibers
Fat ά 1/ water content in meat
Minerals and vitamins : approx. 1% (Na, Ca, Mg etc)
Contamination
Raw material

Air, water, soil, environment Man, method, machine, material

Contamination with mos’

Intrinsic parameter Extrinsic parameter
(pH, nutrients) (Tempr, Rh, Eh etc)
Proliferation

Infection

Food spoilage Food poisoning

Intoxication
Sources of contamination
Equipments Air

Water
4M

Meat

Soil
Other raw materials
 Methods
Man Slaughtering
Personal hygiene

Dressing
Habits Chilling

Disease
Level of
contamination
Equipments
Air
Utensils
Water

Other raw materials

Machine Materials
 Contamination

Quantitative Qualitative

Spoilage/
Increase in no. of mos’ pathogen
1. Slaughtering 1. Spoilage organism
2. Dressing 2. Pathogenic organism
3. Chilling (4°C)
4. Cutting
Contd…
Gram +ve rods: Corynebacterium spp; Microbacterium
spp; LABs; Thermosphactum spp; Bacillus spp;
Brochotrix spp
Gram +ve cocci: Micrococcus spp; Staphylococcus spp;
faecal streptococci
Gram –ve rods: E. coli; Salmonella spp; Pseudomonas
spp
Molds: Cladosporium spp; Sporotrichum spp;
Geotrichum spp; Thamnidium spp; Mucor spp,
Penicillium spp; Alternaria spp; Monilia spp
Contd…
Yeast: Mostly asporogenous ones; Debaryomyces ;
Torula ; Torulopsis ; Candida and Trichosporon
Pathogens : Clostridium spp; E.coli; Campylobacter
spp; Salmonella spp, Listeria monocytogenes etc.
General type of spoilage of
meats
Spoilage under aerobic conditions
Surface slime :
Caused by- Pseudomonas spp; Acinetobacter spp;
Moraxella spp; Streptococcus spp; Leuconostoc spp;
Bacillus spp and Micrococcus spp and some
Lactobacillus spp
At chilling temperature: Pseudomonas-Alcaligenes group
At high upto room temperature: Micrococci and
mesophiles
Less moisture: Micrococci and yeast and still less
moisture: molds
Contd…
Changes in color of meat pigments:
Red colour of meat- “bloom”
Changes to the shades of green, brown or grey
due to production of oxidizing compound (peroxides
or hydrogen sulfide)
Lactobacillus (mostly heterofermentative) and
Leuconostoc- greening of sausage
Contd…
Changes in fats:
Oxidation of unsaturated fatty acid : chemically in
presence of air or catalyzed by light and copper
Develops oxidative rancidity with off-odor (aldehydes
and acids)
Some lipolytic bacteria- lipolysis and accelerates the
oxidation of fats
Lipolytic bacteria- Pseudomonas and Achromobacter
or yeast- rancidity
Contd…
Various surface colour due to pigmented bacteria:
Red spot – serratia marcescens
Blue colour- Pseudomonas syncyanea
Yellow discoloration- Micrococcus or Flavobacterium
Chromobacterium lividium – greenish blue or brownish-
black spots (beef)
Purple “stamping ink” – discoloration of fat surface –
yellow pigmented cocci and rods
Phosphorescence- Photobacterim spp
Contd…
Off-odors and off-tastes:
Taint or undesirable odors and taste- are evident
before other signs of spoilage
Souring- sour odor – due to volatile acids (formic,
acetic, butyric and propionic)
Cold storage flavor- stale odor
Earthy or musty flavor- Actinomycetes
Contd… (aerobic condition- Molds)
Stickiness : initial mold growth makes the meat
surface sticky
Whiskers: meat stored at near freezing temperature-
mycelial growth without sporulation- white fuzzy
growth
 Thamnidium chaetocladioides ; T. elegans ; Mucor
mucedo ; M. lusitanicus or M. lusitanicus ; M.
racemosus or Rhizopus spp
Black spot : Cladosporium herbarum
Contd…
White spot : Sporotrichum carnis or sometimes mold
with wet, yeast like colonies e.g. – Geotrichum spp
Green patches : Penicillium expansum ; P.
asperulum ; P. oxalicum (green spores)
Decomposition of fat : lipolytic molds
Off-odors and off-tastes: musty flavor (vicinity of
their growth)- “thamnidium taint”
Yeast: sliminess, lipolysis, off-odors and tastes and
discoloration (white, cream, pink, or brown)
Spoilage under anaerobic condition
Facultative and anaerobic bacteria
Souring, putrefaction and taint
Souring :
sour odor and taste
Due to formic, acetic, butyric, propionic and higher
fatty acids or other organic acids (lactic or succinic)
Can result from : (a) meat’s own enzyme (b) anaerobic
production of acids or (c) proteolysis without
putrefaction (“stinking sour fermentation)
Contd…
Putrefaction :
Anaerobic decomposition of protein with of foul-
smelling compounds (hydrogen sulfide, mercaptans,
indole, skatole, ammonia and amines)
Usually caused by Clostridium ; but some facultative
bacteria with specific name putrefaciens, putrificum,
putida etc can also cause or assist
Chiefly of the genera Pseudomonas and Alcaligenes
Spoilage of different kinds of meats
Raw meat: own enzyme; microbial action and auto-
oxidation of its fat
Moderate autolysis is desired in tenderizing of beef
and game; but not desirable in most other raw meats
Autolytic changes : proteolytic action on muscles and
connective tissues and slight hydrolysis of fat
Excessive autolysis: souring
Contd…
Fresh meat :
extended refrigeration- Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter
and Moraxella- major spoilers
Besides LABs (Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc,
Streptococcus, Brevibacterium and Pediococcus)-
3 types of spoilage – slime formation ; production of
green discoloration and souring
Contd…
Comminuted meat:
More perishable than intact meat
Surface microbes are distributed through out the mass
Pseudomonas spp; Moraxella spp; Acinetobacter spp –
aerobic conditions
Proteolytic activity leads to rise in pH
Contd…
Deep frozen meat (-18°C) :
Initial count before freezing is high
Enzymatic activity is possible
If exposed to temperature of 5-10°C, black spots
developments due to molds
Contd…
Raw cured meat ( Ham and Bacon):
At low aw, only salt tolerant Micrococci and halophilic
LABs and molds can grow
Micrococci and LABs are less proteolytic, but more
lipolytic (bad odor development)
Slime formation, off-flavor and off-odor
heated meat products
Pasteurized meat products (sausages and pâtés):
Subjected to temperature < 100°C
Thermo-resistant species of Bacillus and Clostridium and
vegetative cells of Lactobacilli and Streptococci
Storage at low temperature prevents germination of spores
and vegetative cells
Storage under refrigeration- spoilage non-proteolytic
acidification, combined with gas formation due to presence
of CHO by psychrotrophs
High temperature- Bacillus spp (gas formation) and
Clostridium spp (hydrogen sulfide and gas production)