Pittman et al. (2012) studied two concentrations of lactic acid
(2% or 5%) as single or double (24 h apart) decontamination spray
treatments of beef carcass surfaces to reduce the viability of E. coli
O157:H7, 12 strains of non-O157 VTEC and 5 strains of nonpathogenic
E. coli. Lactic acid effectively reduced the viability of
E. coli O157:H7 and the non-O157 shiga toxin-producing E. coli by
1.6e2.5 log CFU/cm2 when used as a single treatment, and 2.4 to
3.4 log CFU/cm2 after the second treatment, regardless of concentration
or spray pressure used. Results with the non-pathogenic
E. coli were similar. Stivarius et al. (2002) found 5% lactic acid
treatment of beef trim reduced inoculated E. coli biotype I by
0.7 log CFU/g but the reduction of Salmonella Typhimurium was