Evaluation of bacterial contamination at separate processing stages in emulsion sausage production.

The contamination with spoilage bacteria at separate production steps during the production of emulsion sausages was evaluated using a special sampling and evaluation method. Heat processed and chilled sausages were aseptically transferred directly to cold storage, cutting down or packing. Upon completion of the particular production step the sausages were vacuum-packed and stored at 8 degrees C. During storage, the microbial growth of the sausages was followed and the area under the plot of aerobic count versus storage time was calculated. No correlation was found between the total aerobic count of unstored samples and bacterial growth during storage, defined as area under growth curves. Furthermore, the count of lactic acid bacteria on unstored sausages was often below the detection limit. However, the area reflected the extent of contamination during processing with bacteria able to grow on cold-stored vacuum-packed sausages. Storage in a cold storage room was identified as a critical point with respect to bacterial recontamination and shelf-life.