Contamination of swine carcasses by salmonella and enterobacteria along the slaughter line
Swine; DTA; Fridge; Lot; Quality of the carcass
The objective of the study was the qualitative and quantitative microbiological evaluation of pig carcasses in the different stages of the slaughter process until the cooling, listing which of them cause and/or contribute to the contamination of enterobacteria and salmonella as well as the impact of the day of collection (Monday/Friday). Samples were collected from 10 different batches within five weeks (Monday/Friday) with 10 pig carcasses per lot at nine points of the slaughter line (desensitization, scalding, polishing, evisceration, inspection, final wash, heat shock and refrigeration). Of all, 900 samples were analyzed for the presence of Salmonella sp. and 900 quantified samples for enterobacteria in UFC/cm2. For the statistical analyzes of the salmonella results the logistic regression test was used, and the Wilcoxon and Kruskal Wallis tests for enterobacteria using SAS® 9.5 software. The observed results show higher enterobacteria contamination in batches slaughtered on Fridays (2.5x104/cm²) compared to Mondays (4.0x10³/cm²) along with desensitization/bleeding (7.5x104/cm2), scalding (3.5x104/cm2) and polishing (1.3x104/cm2) (P <0.05). For Salmonella sp., The probability of finding this agent after scald was 60% and in the desensitization of 55% that in the other stages evaluated. According to the day of the week on Fridays (last batch of the week) they were 0.52 times more likely that the carcasses were contaminated with Salmonella sp. than those slaughtered on Mondays (first batch of the week).During the slaughter process the serotypes with the highest presence in the carcasses were Typhimurium Monophasic (32), Infantis (29), Derby (22), Typhimurium (20) and Schwarzengrund (6). From the data found, it can be concluded that there is a greater contamination or recontamination in batches slaughtered on Fridays and in the initial stages of slaughtering, but the processes used to assist in decontamination are efficient enough to make these carcasses suitable for commercialization.