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Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation Abstracts - December, 2001 Relationships of Live Animal Scores for Ambulatory Status, Body Condition, Hide Cleanliness, and Fecal Matter Consistency to Microbiological Contamination of Dairy Cow Carcasses Mindy L. Kain,1 Sherri L. Kochevar,1 John N. Sofos,1* Keith E.
Belk,1 Chris Rossiter,2 SUMMARY During a 3-day period, 80 live cull cows (from twelve lots of dairy cattle) were weighed and scored for ambulatory status, body condition, hide cleanliness, and fecal matter consistency, and their carcasses were weighed and, later, graded. Carcasses were sampled for aerobic plate count (APC), total coliform count (TCC), and Escherichia coli count (ECC). Excised (100cm2) samples were taken at three plant locations (prior to evisceration, after final carcass washing, and after carcass chilling) from two anatomical sites (brisket and round). In addition, samples of fresh feces, sponge-swab samples from hide surfaces, and samples of excised carcass tissues were analyzed for Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7. Factors having significant (P < 0.05) effects on bacterial populations of carcasses immediately after hide removal (prior to evisceration) were sampling date (APC, TCC) and lot number (APC, TCC). Factors significantly (P < 0.05) affecting bacterial counts after final carcass washing included lot number (APC, TCC, ECC), ambulatory status (APC, TCC), and hide cleanliness (TCC). Characteristics having significant (P < 0.05) effects on microbial counts after carcass chilling included sampling date (APC, TCC) and lot number (APC, TCC). No samples were positive for E. coli O157:H7, whereas Salmonella was detected in 0%, 13.8% and 1.2% of fecal (N=77), hide (N=80) or carcass (N=427) samples, respectively. Although microbial contamination on dairy cow carcasses differed among sampling dates and lots of cattle, live animal scores for ambulatory status, body condition, hide cleanliness, and fecal matter consistency were of no use in identifying cattle likely to produce contaminated carcasses. Handwashing Water Temperature Effects on the Reduction of Resident and Transient (Serratia marcescens) Flora when Using Bland Soap Barry Michaels,1* Vidhya Gangar,2 Ann Schultz,2 Maria Arenas,2 Michael Curiale,2 Troy Ayers,3 and Daryl Paulson4 1Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Technology Center, P.O. Box 919
(Hwy. 216), Palatka, Florida 32178; SUMMARY For many years, sanitarians have specified that hands be washed using warm or hot water to reduce cross-contamination risks, with various authors indicating temperatures between 38oC and 48.9oC. However, it has been suggested that these temperatures may contribute to skin damage when frequent handwashing is necessitated (in health care and food service). This study evaluates the bacterial reduction efficacy of water temperature during normal handwashing. The hands of two groups of four experimental subjects were soiled with sterile or contaminated substances (tryptic soy broth and hamburger meat). Uninoculated menstruum was used to study the effects of treatment temperatures on resident microflora reduction, while Serratia marcescens-inoculated menstruum was used to study treatment effects on transient microorganism reduction. Following contamination with appropriate media, one hand was immediately sampled to obtain baseline (control) data, using the "glove-juice" technique for microorganism recovery. Hands were then moistened with water at the assigned temperature (4.4oC, 12.8oC, 21.1oC, 35oC or 48.9oC), washed 15 s with bland soap, and rinsed 10 seconds at the same temperature as was used before; and the opposing hand was then sampled. Results indicate that water temperature has no effect on transient or resident bacterial reduction during normal handwashing when bland soap is used. |