Microbiological Evaluation of Carcass Transport Vehicles and a Survey on the Sanitary Performance at the Meat Cutting Plants in Korea

Introduction:  Meats are generally transported as carcasses or packaged form in boxes in Korea. Carcasses can be exposed to biological, chemical and physical hazards during transportation, and therefore the hygienic management of meat before reaching the processing stage is of utmost importance for the processing quality of meat. For this, the stage of meat transportation is applied mandatorily by Sanitary Standard Operation Procedure (SSOP) and voluntarily by HACCP in Korea.      

Purpose:  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the microbiological contamination levels of carcasses as well as vehicle environment applied by only SSOP or HACCP.

Methods:  The investigation was carried out targeting carcass transportation vehicles immediately after their arrivals at meat cutting plants. The subjects were made up of totally 3 groups, HACCP applied ones (A) and non-HACCP applied ones belonging to cutting plant (B) and rent (C). Microbiological contamination levels were evaluated using aerobic plate count (APC), coliforms and pathogenic bacteria, such as Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes.The samples were collected from floor, wall and utensils of cargo box, carcasses and employees’ gloves and apron. Sanitary performance of employees was conducted using the questionnaire.   

Results:  The number of APC of cargo box floor was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the non-HACCP applied vehicles, with the mean value of 3.9 (B) and 4.2 log CFU/cm² (C), respectively compared with 3.2 log CFU/cm² in the HACCP applied ones (A). Coliforms were also detected with the higher numbers of 1.2 (B) and 1.4 log CFU/cm² (C), respectively, for cargo box floor, compared to 0.6 log CFU/cm² in the Group A. S. aureus and L. monocytogeneswere only detected in the non-HACCP applied groups (B and C) whereas they were not detected in the HACCP applied group (A). In the sanitary performance, the total mean scores of sanitation performance, cargo box management were the highest score in the employee of HACCP applied vehicle.

Significance:  With the results, the application of HACCP system to meat transportation stage is regarded to improve the hygienic management conditions and therefore the enlargement of HACCP application in this area will be needed in Korea.