Engineering R&D:<br>Hot on the trail of pathogen reduction
Pasteurizer uses hot water to dramatically reduce pathogens on beef trimmings.
Steam and hot-water pasteurization systems installed in slaughtering plants over the past few years are very effective in reducing pathogens on beef and hog carcasses.
But meat can become recontaminated when the carcass is broken-down into primal cuts and trimmings for ground meats. "Unfortunately, the industry and the regulatory authorities have their attention firmly focused on the carcass, ignoring the contamination that occurs afterwards," says Dr. Colin O. Gill, research scientist at the Agriculture & Agrifood Canada Research Centre in Lacombe, Alberta.