carcassesbeinghandledat the beginningof the slaughtering line.Accordingto
these results, the incomingbroiler chickenswerenot the majorsourcecausing
psychrotrophic LAB spoilage. The detection of spoilage LAB in the air,
however, suggested that the contaminatedprocessingenvironment played the
major rolein productcontamination. LABassociated withthe developing
spoilagepopulationof MAP broilermeatfinishedproducts werelikely to be
introduced to the products from the environment at the late processing
operationsratherthan being indigenous bacteriaassociated withthe microbiome
of broilerchicken.
Proper eradication of the psychrotrophic spoilage-causing LAB is not
obtainedif the preventive hygiene-controllingacts are directedonlyto the
handling of the broiler chicken at the abattoirlevel sincepsychrotrophic
spoilage-LAB contamination was evident in the air associated with final
processingphases.
33.4.4 Theoriginsof psychrotrophiclacticacidbacteriain food
processing
Whencontaminationanalyseswerefirst undertaken, it was thought that the LAB
typically associatedwithdifferentmeat products mainlyoriginated fromanimal
sources. The fact that raw meatmaterial usedfor the manufacture of products
often contained certain LAB species helped support this conclusion. For
example,L. carnosumwas typicallyassociated with hamand Leuconostoc
gasicomitatum(Bjo»rkrothet al., 2000)withpoultry.Molecular contamination
analyseshave,however, shown that this conclusionhas not necessarily been
correct. It seemsto be that psychrotrophicLABin meatproductsare actually
more likely to originate from the productionenvironment than from the
microbiomeof the animals.
33.5 Applyingknowledgefromcontamination analysisto
improve hygienicfoodmanufacturing
Moleculartyping methodshaveincreasedthe understandingof contamination
pathwaysof pathogensand spoilage organismsin foodprocessingplantsand
foodprocesses. This approachhas made it possible to tracemicroorganismsin a
foodprocessingplant,discover theirnichesand to target preventivemeasures.In
so doing,it has increasedour knowledge of howto manufacture pathogen-free
products. It has also providedimportantinformation of spoilageorganismsin
general and on specificspoilage organisms.Molecular contamination analysis
has therefore had great implicationson the hygieneof foodprocessingplants
and the qualityand safetyof theirproducts. The molecular contamination
analyseshavenot onlyprovidedvaluable informationfor individualprocessing
plants but also for the foodprocessing industry in general. Such improved
hygiene and foodsafetyhas also beenrecognizedin improved publichealth.The
550 Handbookof hygiene controlin the foodindustry