This study evaluated the thermal drying process commonly used by small and
very small beef jerky operations in Texas. It was intended to determine the impact of
relative humidity on the production of beef jerky and to provide documentation to beef
jerky producers to support their Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point programs.
This project was divided into two phases: Phase I provided a low level of relative
humidity (15-25%), whereas Phase II provided a high level (100%) for 25% of the
cooking cycle. Both phases consisted of three trials, each representing one of the
treatments (n=18) applied to the samples. The first treatment served as the control group
and included samples that were non-inoculated, while the other two treatments included
inoculations of samples with a bovine fecal slurry and rifampicin-resistant Salmonella
Typhimurium. Each of the three treatments for both phases was analyzed for reduction
of microbial levels in addition to temperature and product composition.
Once the two phases had been completed and all data were analyzed, it was
concluded that there was not a statistical difference between the level of reduction for
Aerobic Plate Counts, coliforms, Escherichia coli and Salmonella provided by Phase I
with low humidity and Phase II with high humidity. Both levels of humidity provided similar levels of reduction within each trial, suggesting that the level of humidity does
not have a great impact on the level of microbial reduction achieved.
However, this study did not provide the adequate level of initial inoculation
levels to support the required 6.5 log reduction stated in 9 CFR 318.7. Inoculation levels
were lower than 6.5 logs for all three treatments in both phases, resulting in lower levels
of overall reduction. Therefore, based upon the information provided by this study, it
cannot be concluded that a low level of humidity will achieve a 6.5 log reduction as
mandated in 9 CFR 318.17.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1719 |
| Date | 02 June 2009 |
| Creators | Espitia, Felicia Danielle |
| Contributors | Savell, Jeff W. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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