Assessment of efficiency of sanitary treatment of technological equipment at meat processing industry enterprise

Introduction. To assess the efficiency of sanitary treatment of technological equipment at the meat processing industry enterprise, the assessment of microbial contamination of technological equipment surfaces after washing and disinfection with subsequent assessment of sensitivity of isolates of microorganisms to the used disinfectant was carried out.

Material and methods. Washes from the surfaces of technological equipment were studied at the one of domestic meat-processing enterprises engaged in the production of sausage and semi-finished products from incoming meat raw materials (beef, pork, and poultry meat). Sampling was carried out at various parts of the technological process, including technological line of raw material preparation, sausage production, semi-finished product for the production of meatballs and packaging. Identification of isolated cultures of microorganisms was carried out by time-of-flight mass spectrometry on MALDI-TOF equipment, Bruker Daltonik GmbH. The sensitivity of microorganisms was assessed in relation to the disinfectant based on peracetic acid (PAA) used at the enterprise in working PAA concentrations of 0.02–0.1%.

Results. Seventy one microorganism isolates were isolated from the surfaces of technological equipment (42 microorganism isolates after washing and 29 isolates after disinfection). The microflora was represented by 31 species of microorganisms including Gram-positive bacteria – Lactococcus (n = 14), Enterococcus (n = 8), Staphylococcus (n = 7), Kocuria (n = 5), Bacillus (n = 5), Mycrobacterium (n = 2), Pediococcus (n = 1), Lactobacillus (n = 1), Corynebacterium (n = 1), Neisseria (n = 1), Weissella (n = 1); Gram-negative bacteria – Hafnia (n = 4), Escherichia (n = 1), Proteus (n = 1), Pseudomonas (n = 1), Kluyvera (n = 1), Morganella (n = 1), Aeromonas (n = 2); pathogenic bacteria – Listeria (n = 1); actinomycetes – Actinomyces (n = 1), fungi – Candida (n = 11), yeast – Meyerozyma guilliermondii (n = 1). According to the results of evaluation of resistance of microorganism isolates to disinfectant, in the regimes used at the meat processing plant, 33 (46.47 %, 33/71) isolates were found to be resistant to 0.02% PAA, 10 isolates (14.08%, 10/71) to 0.07% PAA, and 6 isolates (8.45%, 6/71) to 0.1% PAA.

Limitations. The limitations of the study are related to evaluating the effectiveness of sanitary treatment of technological equipment at the only enterprise of the meat processing industry, other enterprises have not been studied.

Conclusion. Disinfection of technological equipment ensures inactivation of the viability of opportunistic and pathogenic microorganisms. However, food spoilage microorganisms were revealed in 46.51% of the wash samples, which dictates the need to develop methodological documents on the management of disinfection measures on technological lines of the food industry with an assessment of efficiency and rotation of disinfectants.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study requires no the submission of a biomedical ethics committee opinion or other documents.

Contribution:
Ilyakova A.V. – material collection and processing, experimental work, statistical processing, writing the text;
Gonchar A.S. – material collection and processing, experimental work;
Eremeeva N.I. – research concept and design, editing;
Demina Y.V. – editing, approval of the final version of the article.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: April 9, 2024 / Revised: May 16, 2024 / Accepted: June 19, 2024 / Published: July 31, 2024