A Microbiological Profile of Domestic and Imported Beef Raw Materials Destined for Use in Ground Beef Production

<p>Beef raw materials and final ground beef products were selected from eight commercial grinding facilities in order to determine the effect of contaminants in beef raw materials on final ground beef products. The raw materials selected represented products from fed-beef, culled-beef-cow, culled-dairy-cow and imported beef trimmings. Samples were analyzed for aerobic plate count (APC), total coliform counts (TCC), generic Escherichia coli counts (ECC) and Staphylococcus aureus counts. Combo-bin samples, both core and purge, were tested for the presence or absence of Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes.</p>