IMPROVED PROCEDURES FOR MEAT SANITATION1

A procedure is described for securing and maintaining rabbit carcasses at a low bacterial level during storage. The procedure consists of conventional slaughtering and dressing, a 90-sec dip in 90 C (194 F) water, packaging, and sealing in a sterile container in a sterile environment followed by storage at 3 C (37 F). The dip procedure reduced the surface psychrophilic bacterial load and, when combined with refrigerated storage, this treatment eliminated all detectable growth on the carcasses when evaluated by means of tryptone glucose extract agar. Oxidation was increased by this procedure primarily as a result of lingering peracetic acid used in equipment sterilization. Only slight visual and odor deteriorations were observed in the rabbit carcass after 35 days of storage.