Heat treated Turkish style sucuk: evaluation of microbial contaminations in processing steps.

In this work, we determined the trends in contaminations for important microbial groups in heat treated Turkish style sucuk processing and verified the contamination routes for these groups. Samples were taken from deboned and cubed meat, post-blending and kneading, post-grinding, post-filling and from the final product after heat treatment. We also analysed samples of spices, casing, knife, meat cutting surface, batter vat, grinding machine, filling machine, workers’aprons, workers’ hands, potable water used in the plant and production and cold room area air as possible origins for contamination and/or recontamination. Statistical data revealed the following enlisted sources as primary agent(s) of contamination at indicated steps: knife (enterococci, p<0.001), meat cutting surface and cold room area (total aerobic mesophilic bacteria, p<0.05) in deboning; spices (enterococci, yeast and mold, p<0.01) in post-blending; batter vat (yeast and mold, p<0.05) and grinding machine (enterococci, p<0.001) in post-grinding; filling machine (total aerobic mesophilic bacteria, p<0.05; coliform, p<0.01) and casing (coliform, p<0.01; yeast and mold, p<0.001) in post-filling. Workers’ hands were very important contamination/recontamination sources in blending (enterococci, staphylococci, yeast and mold, p<0.05), in grinding (enterococci, p<0.001; staphylococci, p<0.05) and in filling (coliform, p<0.001) steps.

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