title: Effect of pre-scalding brushing on contamination level of pork carcasses during the slaughtering process.
abstract: The number of aerobic bacteria on the skin of pork carcasses was measured at seven different points on the slaughtering line in order to study the hygienic effect of pre-scalding brushing on the contamination level of carcasses. Eighty carcasses were investigated, of which 40 were brushed before scalding and 40 served as controls. Samples were excised from three sites: back, abdomen and ham. The total number of samples was 1368. The cleaning monitoring of the pre-scalding brushing machine and the blackscraping machine was done at the same time. After singeing and blackscraping there were significant differences (P<0·05) between brushed and non-brushed ham sites. After singeing, brushed ham sites had a contamination level of 2·11 (log(10) cm(-2)) and non-brushed ham sites a level of 1·57. After blackscraping the contamination of brushed ham sites was 3·45 (log(10) cm(-2)) and that of non-brushed ham sites 3·26. At the end of the slaughtering line brushed carcasses were more contaminated than those not brushed, although this difference was not significant.
authors: Department of Food and Environmental Hygiene, College of Veterinary Medicine, PO Box 6, SF-00581 Helsinki, Finland.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Rahkio
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Korkeala
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Sippola
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Peltonen