Survival of salmonellae during pepperoni manufacture.

Survival of salmonellae in artificially contaminated beef-pork mixtures (approximately 10(4) salmonellae/g) was studied in pepperoni prepared by either a natural flora or lactic starter culture fermentation or in nonfermented sausages. The pepperoni did not become salmonellae free during the usual commercial 15 to 30-day drying period. Salmonella dublin was present in all products, fermented or unfermented, after 42 to 43 days of drying. At a lower level of contamination, 10(3)/g, S. dublin could not be recovered from starter culture-fermented pepperoni after 14 days of drying but persisted in the natural flora-fermented sausage. S. typhimurium (initial count, 10(4)/g) was absent after 42 days of drying when starter culture was used to ferment the pepperoni, but was still present in the natural flora-fermented and unfermented products. S. dublin, host adapted to cattle, or S. choleraesuis, host adapted to swine, had similar survival patterns in beef pork, or beef-pork pepperoni. Heating salmonellae contaminated beef-pork pepperoni (after fermantation but before drying) to an internal temperature of 60 C (trichinae inactivating) eliminated the food-borne pathogen from the sausage product.