3.3. The effects of incoming beef decontamination on
L. monocytogenes in sausages
In control sausages produced from inoculated but nondecontaminated
beef, L. monocytogenes survived throughout the
production process, and the final count of this pathogen in finished
sausages was very similar to the initial 2.2 log concentration
(Table 1). The results reflect the marked resistance of
L. monocytogenes against antimicrobial factors such as low pH,
higher salt and lower aw in general (Buncic & Avery, 2004).
Furthermore, the marked survival ability of this pathogen in the
same beef fermented sausages (“Sudzuk”) was also reported in
another study where L. monocytogenes showed either practically no
reduction (0.1 log) or only up to 0.9 log (Hwang et al., 2009). In
finished sausages produced from decontaminated beef, only small
reduction rates (around 0.5 log) were observed (Table 1), and they
did not differ significantly between the HLA1, HLA2 and HLA3
treatments. Overall, the efficacy of the three HLA treatments
applied to incoming beef in reducing L. monocytogenes in the
finished sausages can be considered as unsatisfactory. Nevertheless,
considering that L. monocytogenes was unable to grow in the
fermented sausages (Table 1),