Microbiological Quality of Australian Beef, Sheep and Pork Carcases, Cuts and Offals

A one-year survey was undertaken of the microbiological quality of carcases and the derived primal cuts, manufacturing meat and offals at twelve Australian export establishments (six beef, three sheep/lamb and three pork). A total of 27,157 microbiological results for aerobic plate count (APC) and generic Escherichia coli were gathered, 15,155 from beef, 8405 from sheep and 3597 from pig establishments. The mean log(10) APCs on beef, sheep and pig carcases were 0.84, 1.60 and 1.30 log(10) cfu/cm(2), respectively. For primals, the mean log(10) APC was higher for beef but was similar for sheep and pork primals, with ‘outside’ cuts having higher counts. For manufacturing meat, the concentration was 2–3 log(10) cfu/g, irrespective of species. The prevalence (%) of generic E. coli from beef, sheep and pork was 2.3, 28.4 and 5.4 on carcases; 7.0, 20.6 and 3.2 on primals; and 5.8, 33.6 and 6.1 on manufacturing meat, respectively. The mean log(10) APCs of beef, sheep and pork offal were 3.23, 3.18 and 3.37 log(10) cfu/g, with tripes and tongues having APCs 1–2 log(10) units higher than organ offals. The results reflect improvements in total bacterial loadings compared with previous national baseline surveys.