Assessment of Microbial and Radioactive Contaminations in Korean Cold Duck Meats and Electron-Beam Application for Quality Improvement

Animal-origin food products pose serious threat to public food safety due to high microbial loads. The microbial and radioactive contaminations in commercial cold duck meat products were evaluated. Ten different lots of commercial samples (C(1)-C(10)) were classified based on type and smoking process. All samples were highly contaminated (< 4-7 Log CFU/g) with total aerobic bacteria (TAB), yeasts and molds (Y&M), and 7 samples (C(1)-C(7)) were positive for coliforms. Furthermore, three samples were contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes (C(4)-C(6)) and one with Salmonella typhimurium (C(6)). No radionuclides ((131)I, (137)Cs, and (134)Cs) were detected in any sample. The results of DEFT (direct epifluorescent filter technique)/APC (aerobic plate count), employed to screen pre-pasteurization treatments of products, indicated that smoked samples were positive showing DEFT/APC ratios higher than 4. Notably, the samples showed a serious threat to microbial safety, thus were irradiated with electron-beam (e-beam). The D(10) values for S. typhimurium and L. monocytogenes were 0.65 and 0.42 kGy, respectively. E-beam application at 3 and 7 kGy resulted in reduction of initial TAB, Y&M, and coliform populations by 3 and 6 log cycles, respectively. Thus, e-beam was proven to be a good decontamination approach to improve the hygiene of cold duck meat.