Wilbert Long III¹, Majher I. Sarker^1,, Cheng-Kung Liu¹

This study evaluated the effectiveness of spray washing with aqueous based solution of cinnamaldehyde (CA) and CA plus lactic acid (LA) in reducing aerobic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, E.coli and Salmonella from the grain surface of bovine hide so that the developed solutions can potentially be used to decontaminate the cattle carcasses to ensure meat safety. This study also examined the application impacts of the developed formulations on leather produced from the treated hides recognizing the value of cattle byproducts. Two concentrations (0.5% and 0.75%) of CA and LA were used to develop the formulations for 2 to 5 minutes treatment. Research data revealed the fresh cattle hides washed with water alone (control) resulted in recovery of aerobic bacteria of 7.39 and 9.30; Enterobacteriaceae of 5.43 and 5.42; E.coli of 4.88 and 5.50 and Salmonella of 3.81 and 4.65 log CFU per leather panel at 2 and 5 minutes of treatment respectively. Comparing to control, hides treated with CA solution alone resulted in the highest reduction of aerobic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, E.coli and Salmonella up to 2.22, 0.42, 0.72 and 1.61 Log CFU respectively for 2 to 5 minutes treatment. The treatment with the formulations of CA plus LA resulted in the highest reduction of aerobic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, E.coli and Salmonella up to 2.12, 3.12, 2.33 and 2.28 log CFU respectively for 2-5 minutes of treatments. From microscopic analysis, mechanical and subjective examinations, it was revealed that the leather produced from the formulation treated hides were comparable to the control in terms of structural integrity.

meat safety, salmonella, E.coli, Enterobacteriaceae, hides, decontamination