Treatment of animal carcasses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9770040-B2
Application number	US-201615348931-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 10, 2016
Priority date	Aug 20, 1998
Publication date	Sep 26, 2017
Grant date	Sep 26, 2017

Abstract

Described is a method of sanitizing animal carcasses using aqueous streams having an antimicrobial composition added to the stream. Preferably, the antimicrobial composition includes a mixture of one or more carboxylic acids having up to 18 carbon atoms and one or more peroxycarboxylic acids having up to 12 carbon atoms, preferably a mixture of a C 2 -C 4 peroxycarboxylic acid and a C 8 -C 12 peroxycarboxylic acid. Also described is a novel antimicrobial composition adapted for sanitizing animal carcasses containing a mixture of one or more C 2 -C 4 peroxycarboxylic acids and one or more C 8 -C 12 peroxycarboxylic acids and an alpha-hydroxy mono- or dicarboxylic acid.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of treating an animal carcass to reduce a microbial population in resulting cut meat, the method comprising:
diluting a concentrated antimicrobial composition, wherein the concentrated antimicrobial composition comprises:
(1) about 20% to about 50% acetic acid, and at least about 0.5% peracetic acid (PAA), or
(2) at least about 0.5% acetic acid, and about 0.5% to about 20% peracetic acid (PAA); and

treating the carcass with the diluted antimicrobial composition for at least about 10 seconds, the diluted antimicrobial composition comprising:
(i) at least about 2 parts per million (ppm) of one or more mono- or di-peroxycarboxylic acids having up to 12 carbon atoms;
(ii) at least about 20 ppm of one or more carboxylic acids having up to 18 carbon atoms,

thereby reducing the microbial population by at least one log 10 reduction.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the treatment does not induce a deleterious organoleptic effect.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the population reduction comprises at least two log 10 reduction in the microbial population.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the population reduction comprises at least three log 10 reduction in the microbial population.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the population comprises a human pathogen.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the population comprises Escherichia coli.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carcass is a muscle meat.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the muscle meat is selected from the group consisting of beef, pork, veal, buffalo, and lamb.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carcass is sea food.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the sea food is selected from the group consisting of scallops, shrimp, crab, octopus, mussels, squid, and lobster.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carcass is poultry.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the poultry is selected from the group consisting of chicken, turkey, ostrich, game hen, squab, and pheasant.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concentrated antimicrobial composition comprises about 20% to about 50% acetic acid and about 0.5% to about 20% peracetic acid (PAA).

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concentrated antimicrobial composition comprises about 0.5% to about 60% acetic acid and about 0.5% to about 20% peracetic acid (PAA).

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the concentrated antimicrobial composition comprises about 10% to about 60% acetic acid and about 0.5% to about 20% peracetic acid (PAA).

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concentrated antimicrobial composition further comprises an oxidizer.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the oxidizer is hydrogen peroxide, and the concentrated antimicrobial composition comprises about 1% to about 35% hydrogen peroxide, or at least about 5% hydrogen peroxide.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concentrated antimicrobial composition further comprises about 0.01% to about 10% of a sequestrant, about 0.1% to about 20% of a hydrotrope, and/or about 0.01% to about 10% of a thickening or gelling agent.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the diluted antimicrobial composition comprises between about 10 ppm and about 500 ppm of peracetic acid.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the diluted antimicrobial composition comprises between about 10 ppm and about 500 ppm of one or more mono- or di-peroxycarboxylic acids selected from the group consisting of peroxyformic acid, peroxyacetic acid, peroxypropionic acid, peroxybutanoic acid, peroxypentanoic acid, peroxyhexanoic acid, peroxyheptanoic acid, peroxyoctanoic acid, peroxynonanoic acid, peroxydecanoic acid, peroxyundecanoic acid, and peroxydodecanoic acid.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the diluted antimicrobial composition comprises between about 20 ppm and about 10,000 ppm of acetic acid.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the diluted antimicrobial composition comprises between about 20 ppm and about 10,000 ppm of one or more carboxylic acids having up to 18 carbon atoms selected from the group consist of formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butanoic acid, pentanoic acid, hexanoic acid, heptanoic acid, octanoic acid, nonanoic acid, decanoic acid, undecanoic acid, dodecanoic acid, lactic acid, maleic acid, ascorbic acid, citric acid, hydroxyacetic acid, neopentanoic acid, neoheptanoic acid, neodecanoic acid, oxalic acid, malonic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, pimelic acid, and subric acid.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein said diluted antimicrobial composition comprises about 2 to 25 parts by weight of hydrogen peroxide per each one million parts of the composition.

24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the diluted antimicrobial composition is applied to the carcass by means of a spray, a fog, or a foam, or in the form of a thickened or gelled solution.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the diluted antimicrobial composition is applied by means of an electrostatically accelerated spray.

26. The method of claim 24 , wherein the diluted antimicrobial composition is sprayed onto the carcass at a pressure of at least about 50 psi at a temperature of up to about 60° C. resulting in a contact time of at least about 30 seconds.

27. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carcass is immersed or dipped in the diluted antimicrobial composition.

28. The method of claim 27 , the method further comprising agitating the diluted antimicrobial composition.

29. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pH of the diluted antimicrobial composition is from about 1 to about 11.

30. The method of claim 29 , wherein the pH is from about 2 to about 10.

Assignees

• Ecolab Usa Inc

Inventors

• Gutzmann Timothy A
• Anderson Brian J
• Reed Pamela J
• Cords Bruce R
• Grab Lawrence A
• Richardson Edward H

Classifications

• A23V2002/00

  Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs · CPC title

• A01N37/16

  containing the group [IMAGE cpc-sch-A01N-0934.gif]; Thio analogues thereof · CPC title

• A23B4/20

  Organic compounds; Microorganisms; Enzymes · CPC title

• A23B4/12 Primary

  Preserving with acids; Acid fermentation · CPC title

• A01N37/00

  Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing organic compounds containing a carbon atom having three bonds to hetero atoms with at the most two bonds to halogen, e.g. carboxylic acids (containing cyclopropane carboxylic acids or derivatives thereof, e.g. cyclopropane carboxylic acid nitriles, A01N53/00) · CPC title