Content area
Full Text
Abstract
In New Mexico between 1966 and 1995, eight gastroenteritis outbreaks due to ingestion of contaminated meat jerky were reported, with 250 illnesses. Primarily implicated was a locally produced jerky, carne seca, made by soaking beef strips in a spicy marinade and then dehydrating them. The process uses no other preservation methods, such as salt curing or the addition of chemical preservatives. Organisms isolated from samples included Staphyloccus aureus and several types of Salmonella (thompson, cerro, montevideo, kentucky, typhimurium, and newport). The primary risk factor may be failure during processing to reach a temperature sufficient to kill these organisms (145deg F for three hours). New Mexico has established guidelines that address this issue, and regulatory agencies and jerky processors need to ensure that processing brings every piece of jerky to the appropriate internal temperature.
Introduction
Dried meat, now commonly called jerky, has been a popular food for thousands of years, and was an important protein source before other methods of food storage such as refrigeration became available. For reasons of convenience and taste, jerky is still widely consumed. In New Mexico, a popular form of jerky, called come seca, is made by soaking beef strips in a spicy marinade and then dehydrating them. The process uses no other preservation methods, such as salt curing or the addition of chemical preservatives. The industry is popular and "home-grown," with products prepared in small local manufacturing operations from family recipes and marketed door to door or through local vendors. Although New Mexico has nearly 40 jerky processors, no local or state trade groups represent these in-state manufacturers.
The potential for bacterial contamination in meat and in slaughterhouses (abattoirs) is tremendous. In a study of 32 slaughterhouses, Salmonella bacteria were isolated from 21 percent of swabs taken from drains (0. Another study found Salmonella bacteria in 40.5 percent of abattoir drains (2). With respect to meat taken from the slaughterhouses, one of these studies found Salmonella bacteria in two percent of specimens, and yet another study found the bacteria in 12 to 18 percent of veal samples (1,3). Among small groups of calves, Salmonella carrier rates of 50 percent are occasionally found (1).
Bacterially contaminated meat has been repeatedly linked to gastroenteritis. In the United Kingdom, 139 incidents of...