Features of Improving the Safety of Fresh Meat:

• Reviews research on identifying and controlling hazards
• Investigates the prevalence and detection of pathogens
• Describes contamination risks and how they can best be managed
• Discusses the range of available decontamination techniques
• Features contributions from an international team of experts

Improving the Safety of Fresh Meat covers the latest research on identifying and controlling hazards at various stages of the supply chain. It also explores the implications of this research for the meat industry.

Part 1 discusses identifying and managing hazards on the farm. There are chapters on the prevalence and detection of pathogens, chemical and other contaminants. A number of chapters discuss ways of controlling such hazards in the farm environment.

Part 2 covers the identification and control of hazards during and after slaughter. There are chapters both on contamination risks and how they can best be managed. The range of decontamination techniques available to meat processors as well as such areas as packaging and storage are examined.

CONTENTS

Part 1: Identifying and Controlling Hazards on the Farm and Feedlot

Biological pathogens in animals

• Types of pathogens in animals
• Pathogens in the gastrointestinal tract and faeces
• Pathogens on animal hide, skin and udder
• Transmission of pathogens within herds
• Pathogens in ovarian tissues and egg
• Parasites in animals

Detecting pathogens in cattle and meat

• Culture-based methods
• Immunological methods
• PCR-based methods and DNA microarrays
• Sample preparation and testing

Detecting animal tissues in feed and feed ingredients

• Risks from animal tissue in feed
• Current detection methods and their limitations
• New methods and approaches for detecting
• Animal tissues in feed
• Regulatory issues: controlling animal tissues in feed

Plant and fungal toxins as contaminants of feed and meat

• Phytotoxins and mycotoxins consumed by ruminants
• Minimising intake of phytotoxins and mycotoxins by livestock
• Detecting phytotoxins and mycotoxins in feed and meat

Detecting veterinary drug residues in feed and cattle

• Reasons for analysing veterinary drugs in food and feed
• Regulation of veterinary drug residues in food
• Types of veterinary drugs
• Current and emerging detection methods

Environmental contaminants and pesticides in animal feed and meat

• Sources of different contaminants
• Routes of contamination
• Analytical methods
• International regulation
• Typical levels in meat and meat products

Controlling microbial contamination on the farm

• Sources and prevalence of food-borne pathogens
• Animal management practices and pathogen control
• Impact of transportation on pathogen control and shedding
• Treating animal hides and pathogen control
• Emerging on-farm interventions in pathogen control

The use of diet to control pathogens in animals

• Types of livestock diets
• Influence of various diet types on pathogen prevalence
• Dietary strategies to control fecal shedding of pathogens

Probiotics, vaccines and other interventions for pathogen control in animals

• Pro-commensal strategies to reduce food-borne pathogens
• Direct anti-pathogen intervention strategies
• Can ‘good’ animal management reduce pathogens?

Managing pathogen contamination on the farm

• Pathogens in the farm environment
• Use of intervention strategies
• Verification and validation of pre-harvest food safety systems

Part 2: Identifying and Controlling Hazards During and After Slaughter

Sources of microbial contamination at slaughtering plants

• Production processes at slaughtering plants
• Contamination from the hide
• Contamination from visceral organs and the head
• Contamination from processing equipment
• Contamination from plant personnel
• Contamination from walls, floors, fixtures and fittings

Animal welfare and food safety at the slaughter plant

• Handling animals before arrival at the slaughter plant
• Stunning methods and food safety
• Contamination risks from carcass splitting
• Religious slaughter and slaughter without stunning
• Resting pigs prior to slaughter
• Controlling cattle contamination prior to slaughter

Slaughter and fabrication/boning processes and procedures

• Slaughter processes
• Fabrication or boning processes

Removal and handling of BSE specified risk material

• Specified risk material
• Techniques for removing specified risk material
• Good manufacturing practices (GMP)
• Examples of GMP relating to specified risk material

Removal of the spinal column from carcasses

• BSE and specified risk materials
• Fate of the spinal cord
• Cross-contamination of carcasses via the bandsaw
• Fate of dorsal root ganglia
• New/alternative methods

Physical decontamination strategies for meat

• Trimming
• Water spray-washing
• Steam
• Factors affecting the effectiveness of heat treatment
• Radiation

Chemical decontamination strategies for meat

• Carcass surface characteristics
• Uses and effectiveness of particular chemicals
• Combined decontamination treatments
• Pathogen resistance to chemical decontamination

Carcass chilling

• Conventional chilling
• Accelerated carcass chilling
• Spray-chilling of carcasses
• Microbial ecology of carcasses during chilling
• Current applications

Emerging decontamination techniques for meat

• New technologies for inactivation of pathogenic microorganisms
• High hydrostatic pressure (HPP)
• Shock wave treatment
• Pulsed light technology
• Treatments employing carbon dioxide
• Electrolyzed water
• Ultrasonics
• Gas plasma
• Magnetic field treatment

Irradiation of fresh meat

• Commercial applications
• Effects of irradiation on pathogens
• Irradiation, product quality and consumer perceptions

Combining physical and chemical decontamination interventions for meat

• Hurdle technology
• Decontamination of external surfaces of animals
• Carcass cleaning and decontamination techniques
• Factors affecting the efficacy of multiple decontamination techniques

Fresh meat spoilage and modified atmosphere packaging

• Spoilage of fresh meat
• Modified Atmosphere Packaging; principles, benefits and technologies
• Strengths and weaknesses of MAP in controlling pathogens
• Modeling and packaging

Meat safety, refrigerated storage and transport: modeling and management

• Microbiology of refrigerated meat
• Modeling the effect of temperature on microbial growth
• The chill chain for fresh meat
• Monitoring and controlling the chill chain
• Chill chain management

Meat decontamination and pathogen stress adaptation

• Bacterial stress adaptation and resistance
• Fresh meat decontamination needs and potential concerns
• Pathogen stress responses in model fresh meat environments
• Strategies to control stress-adapted or resistant pathogens in fresh meat

Molecular typing methods for tracking pathogens

• Methods
• Analysis and interpretation of subtype data

The role of quantitative risk assessment in assessing and managing risks related to microbial food pathogens

• Quantitative risk assessment
• Published quantitative risk assessments
• Risk management and economic costs

HACCP in the processing of fresh meat

• Microbiological data: collection and analysis
• HACCP implementation: general principles
• Stock reception
• Slaughter and predressing
• Carcass dressing
• Collection and cooling of offals
• Carcass cooling
• Carcass breaking and equipment cleaning
• HACCP implementation in smaller plants
• The use of microbiological criteria in assessing HACCP systems

Microbiological performance objectives and criteria

• International developments in risk management
• Application of risk management principles to red meat safety
• Regulatory application of performance criteria to red meat

HACCP in slaughter operations

• Prerequisite programmes
• HACCP
• Slaughter HACCP plans
• Pre-slaughter preparation of the live animal
• Stategic decision in the application of HACCP
• International issues

Monitoring, validating and verifying the effectiveness of HACCP systems

• Monitoring in a HACCP environment
• Verification procedures in a HACCP environment
• Validation of CCPs and critical limits
• Microbiological testing for verification in a HACCP environment

Index

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