Meat microbiota of fabricated pork cuts

Foodborne Salmonella illnesses are often attributed to pork products. Despite the use of intervention, outbreak data suggests that some populations of Salmonella are able to survive and cause illness in consumers. While pathogen detection technologies continue to improve, the application of microbiota analysis can provide additonal information on the entire microbial community allowing for the identification of indicator organisms, spoilage causing bacteria, and contamination pathways throughout a processing facility. The objective of this study was to investigate the presence of Salmonella contamination, qualitatively and quantitatively, on fabricated pork cuts and identify potential correlation to the overall meat microbiota.