Sources of

contamination and
inhibition of growth
of microorganisms in
meat
Table of contents
01 02
Introduction Types of spoilage
of meat
03
04
Meat Products and Preservation
Microorganisms techniques
INTRODUCTION
 Meat and its products are highly nutritious that is widely consumed by
people all over the world
 It is nutritious, protein rich food that is highly perishable and has short
shelf life
 Approximately, 25% of the world’s food produced post-harvest or post
slaughter is lost to microbial degradation of food alone
 Meat is an ideal culture medium for many organisms and biological and
chemical nature of meat leads to its deterioration
 The breakdown of fat, protein and carbohydrates of meat impart off odors,
off flavor and slime formation
conti...
 Majority of the spoilage microorganisms are contaminants comes from
external sources
 Molds (Cladosporium, Mucor, Penicilium, Alternaria and Monilia) can
come in contact with the surface of meats and grow in this environment.
 Yeasts present on meat are mostly asporogenous.
 Major bacteria associated meat spoilage are Pseudomonas,
Acinetobacter, Alcaligens, Micrococcus, Sarcina, Leuconostoc,
Lactobacillus, Proteus etc.
 Spoilage of sea foods (fish and shellfish) caused by various microbes
 Pseudomonas, Shewanella, Flavobacterium, Bacillus, Micrococcus etc.
Types of spoilage of meat
 There are two types of spoilage of meat:
1. Spoilage under aerobic condition(tabel no.1)
Kind of defects Microorganisms
Surface slime Pseudomonas, Moraxella,
Streptococcus, Bacillus, micrococcus

The red color of meat called “bloom” Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc

caused by the production of an
oxidizing compound
Oxidative rancidity Pseudomanas spp, Archromobacter

Red spot Serratia marcescens

CONTI...

Blue color Pseudomonas syncyanea

Greenish blue or brownish black Chromobacterium lividum

spot

Stickiness, whiskers, Green Mold

patches
CONTI...
2. Spoilage under anaerobic condition

Kind of defects Microorganisms

Putrefaction Clostridium spp,

Alcaligennes, Proteus

Souring Lactic acid bacteria

Meat Products and Microorganisms
 Some defects caused by microorganism in different kinds of
meat are:

Products Defects Microorganisms

Sulfide odor Clostridium spp., Hafnia spp.

Vacuum packed H2S greening Shewanella spp.

meat
Blown Pack Clostridium spp., lactic acid
bacteria
conti...
Products Defects Microorganisms

Putrefaction Alcaligenes, Clostridium,

Chromobacterium, Proteus
vulgaris, Pseudomonas
Fresh meat fluorescens
Souring Chromobacterium,
Pseudomonas
conti...
Products Defects Microorganisms
Moldy odor Aspergillus, Penicillium,
Rhizopus
Greening(Dried- Pediococcus,
fermented sausage) Streptococcus,heterofermen
tative Lactobacillus
Cured meat
fructivorans
Souring(Smoked Micrococcus, Pseudomonas
products) and Clostridium spp.

Slimy surface(Pickled Leuconostoc

meat)
conti...
Products Defects Microorganisms

Refrigerated packaged Off-flavors, slime, Pseudomonas,

meat putrefaction Acinetobacter,
Moraxella

sour, slime, and flavor Lactic acid bacteria

change
Spoilage of fish
 Fish contain important nutritional and digestive proteins, essential
amino acids, lipid-soluble vitamins, micronutrients, and highly
unsaturated fatty acids
 It contains water (75–85%) and has a high water activity (0.98–0.99)
which makes it prone to microbial growth
 There are three modes of fish spoilage
a. Oxidation
b. Enzymatic
c. Microbial spoilage
Defects observed on fish by microbial spoilage
Product Defects Microorganisms
ammonia-like off- Shewanella putrifaciens,
flavors and fishy off- Aeromonas spp., psychrotolerant
flavor Enterobacteriaceae,
P.phosphoreum and Vibrio spp.
proteolytic and Pseudomonas putrifaciens,
Fish hydrolytic enzymes fluorescent pseudomonads
greenish-yellow Pseudomonas fluorescens,
color,yellow color, red Micrococcus, Bacillus and Sarcina
color

chocolate-brown color yeasts and molds

musty odor Streptomyces
Preservation techniques
 Some old methods that were being used in meat and meat product
are following
 These methods are somewhat modified to preserve meat and meat
products
1. Asepsis
2. Use of heat
3. Use of low temperature (chilling, freezing)
4. Preservation by radiation
5. Preservation by chemical preservative
• Smoking
• Curing
Modern techniques of meat preservation
1. Super-chilling
 The method of super-chilling is used to describe the process where
some portion of the water present in a particular product is frozen
 During super-chilling, the product temperature is decreased up 1–2oC
for initial surface freezing
 After some time, the product attains the uniform temperature by
equilibration of ice distribution which is maintained during the storage
and distribution of the produce
 This process has been mostly used for seafood preservation
 Super-chilling is useful for inhibiting microbial growth and can reduce
the use of freezing/thawing thereby reducing energy cost, labor and
weight loss
conti...
 Super-chilling is claimed to prolong the shelf life of meat products
for 1.4–4 times as compared to the conventional meat-chilling
2. Ultrarapid freezing
 The size and structure of ice crystals depends on the rate of freezing,
fast freezing leads to the formation of small ice crystals and causes
less cellular damage to product being frozen
 Reports conclude that cell integrity of muscle foods has better
preserved by rapid freezing methods in contrast to slow freezing
 Temperature of the product is rapidly decreased to desired level
which results in the formation of smaller ice crystals hence, flavor
and textural attributes of the food are not disturbed
conti...
3. Immersion vacuum cooling
 Immersion vacuum cooling (IVC) is another method that is claimed to
attain high cooling rate and less cooling losses in comparison with
traditional cooling methods
 These strategies include combining this technology with other cooling
methods
 Pressure control, inclusion of agitation, applying altered condensation
temperatures and using water with different initial temperatures
conti...
4. Hydrofluidization freezing
 Hydrofluidization freezing (HFF) is a modified form of immersion
freezing
 Involves a circulation system that pump refrigerating liquid in a
cooling vessel through nozzles
 Thereby creating agitating jets which forms a fluidized bed having
a turbulent liquid and moving products
conti...
5. Impingement freezing
 The use of impingement technology is one of the latest techniques that
are commercially introduced for the preservation of meat and other food
products
 The main advantage of this method is higher heat transfer rate through
coupling impingement technology with cryogenic freezing system
 This technique involves directing high speed jets of fluid to the surface
of a solid product that breaks up the static layer of gas surrounding the
food surface
 Reports have shown that impingement freezing is more effective for
those foods having high surface area to weight ratio that is meat cuts and
fish fillets
conti...
6. Pressure-shift freezing
 Freezing foods using high pressure (200–400 MPa) has attracted
researchers in recent years with special reference to pressure-shift
freezing (PSF)
 In PSF, high pressure is applied while cooling the food to subzero
temperature which prevents the phase change and then food is frozen
after releasing this pressure
 When the pressure of the system is released, uniform and small ice
crystals are formed in food due to rapid nucleation
conti...
7. Acidic electrolyzed water coupled with high hydrostatic
pressure
 Use of acidic electrolyzed water (AEW) has gained attention of researchers in
recent years for effectively controlling the bacterial spoilage of meat-based
products
 AEW has shown better bactericidal effect in contrast to other conventional
sanitizers
 AEW can be used synergistically with other antimicrobial interventions for
controlling microbial spoilage of meat and other food products
 Using AEW in synergism with high hydrostatic pressure can significantly
reduce the bacterial load from surface without disturbing the quality of meat
 Can be used as a tool for preservation of meat-based products
conti...
8. HPP in improving meat quality and safety
 HPP technology has shown its potential for inactivating the growth of
microorganisms from meat and meat products during the processing and
storage
 Studies have revealed that high levels of pressure (> 100 MPa) are
responsible for microbial inactivation
 Lower or moderate pressure levels (10–50 MPa) are used for reducing
the growth and reproduction rates of microorganisms
 Application of HPP leads to the denaturation of microbial proteins which
leads to the inactivation of enzymes and ultimately stops microbial
activities
conti...
 Additionally, HPP also causes destabilization of cellular membranes
that affects the cell permeability in an adverse way
 Inactivation of microbial activities under high pressure is influenced
by several factors including pH, temperature, time of application,
water activity and salt and sugar concentrations
 Among these, temperature is considered as the most important factor
and has synergistic effect with high pressure on the inactivation of
viable bacterial cells
 However bacterial resistance to high pressure depends on type and
strains of bacteria
conti...

 The high pressure equipment containing the matrix and water is

programed until reaches the desired pressure (MPa) (1). The pressure
causes rupture of the microbial cell wall which allows loss of cellular
material (2). During HPP application, microbial fatty acids chain (3)
and protein conformation are changed (4).
conti...
9. Use of UV treatment in meat safety and preservation
 It works by inhibiting the growth of microorganisms and by
destructing the pre-existing microbes on the food surface
 Short-wave UV light has been deployed to treat the surface of meat
fillets and reported to curb the growth of Pseudomonas species
 1 log reductions in Salmonella typhimurium, E. coli O157:H7 and
L. monocytogenes by treating the chicken meat surface with UV
radiations of dose 0.4–0.9KJ/m2
conti...
10. Plasma technology in meat preservation
 Plasma is composed of reactive photons comprising ions or free
electrons which have significant bactericidal effect
 Plasma contains charged species which when applied to the bacterial cell
cause
a. Protein denaturation
b. Enzyme inhibition
c. Oxidation of amino acids
d. Breakage of bonds on the cell membrane due to bombardment of
radicals
e. Perforation of cell membranes due to the diffusion of ionized species,
oxidation of the membranes
conti...
f. DNA damage and reduction of cell membrane resulting in loss of
functionality and cell death
 Application of plasma technology in meat industry include designing
of plasma treatment system that can adjust in the existing processing
line
 Combination of plasma treatment with other hurdles can be more
effective meat decontamination
 Hence plasma technology can be used as a partial replacement to the
conventional techniques for decontaminating meat and meat products
conti...
11. Alternative chemical compounds
 Alternative chemical compounds (ACC) have been considered a
high promissory replacer to decontamination
 Increasing the shelf life and promoting low levels of
physicochemical, nutritional and sensorial alterations of meat and
fish products
 Peracetic acid, bacteriocins, nanoparticles and essential oils applied
in meat and fish products
 ACC present a high capacity of microorganisms inactivation,
ensuring low alterations level in the matrix and high reduction of
environmental impact
conti...

Peracetic acid Bacteriocins

The high efficiency of peracetic Bacteriocins comprises compounds as the
acid is primarily due to its ability to mersacidin that attaches to peptidoglycan carrier
penetrate the cell membrane and dissociate subunits and impair the adequate synthesis of the
in hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid into cell wall leading to microbial cell death
the cytoplasm
conti...

Nanoparticles Essential oils

The most important factor that makes the use Essential oils (EO) are aromatic liquid extracts
of antimicrobials nanoparticles as an effective obtained by whole or specific parts of plants
method is the specific chemical and physical that have been used in meat and fish products to
properties of these compounds. The high extend shelf life and increase food safety.The
surface/volume ratio, as well as the stability at bioactive compounds penetrate the lipophilic
high temperatures and pressures, give these membrane cell and inhibit the functional
compounds an efficient antimicrobial activity properties
References
1. https://microbenotes.com/microbial-spoilage-of-fish-preservation
2. https://microbenotes.com/microbial-spoilage-of-meat-and-meat-pro
ducts
3. https://www.onlinebiologynotes.com/microbial-spoilage-of-meat-an
d-methods-of-preservation
4. https://microbenotes.com/microbial-spoilage-of-fish-preservation/
#defects-observed-on-fish-by-microbial-spoilage
5. Denes K. A. Rosario,Bruna L. Rodrigues,Patricia C.
Bernardes&Carlos A. Conte-Junior “Principles and applications of
non-thermal technologies and alternative chemical compounds in
meat and fish” pages 1163-1183 | Published online: 22 Apr 2020
6. Ubaid ur Rahman,Amna Sahar,Anum Ishaq,Rana Muhammad
Aadil,Tahir Zahoor,Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad “Advanced meat
preservation methods: A mini review” First published: 26 March
2018
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