. 2022 Apr 14;11(8):1133. doi: 10.3390/foods11081133

Table 1.

Summary table of indicator counts for all carcass regions at each sampling location throughout the beef processing line (n = 24 carcass region/sampling location).

Carcass Region	Sampling Location	Microorganism
Carcass Region	Sampling Location	Aerobic Plate Counts (Log CFU/cm² ± SE ¹)	Enterobacteriaceae Counts (Log CFU/Sample ² ± SE)	Escherichia coli Counts (Log CFU/Sample ± SE)
Shank	Pre-Evisceration	3.93 ± 0.24 ^a	3.47 ± 0.20 ^a	2.83 ± 0.25 ^a
	Post-Evisceration	2.58 ± 0.07 ^b	2.55 ± 0.10 ^b	1.78 ± 0.09 ^b
	Final Rail	1.55 ± 0.13 ^c	1.98 ± 0.16 ^c	1.67 ± 0.11 ^b,c
	After Interventions	1.49 ± 0.19 ^c	1.65 ± 0.07 ^c	1.40 ± 0.01 ^d
	After Chilling	2.66 ± 0.17 ^b	2.69 ± 0.23 ^b	1.49 ± 0.06 ^c,d
	Cold Carcass	2.77 ± 0.19 ^b	3.25 ± 0.27 ^a,b	1.65 ± 0.14 ^c,d
	After Fabrication	1.60 ± 0.14 ^c	2.67 ± 0.09 ^b	1.58 ± 0.08 ^c,d
	p-value	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
Inside Round	Pre-Evisceration	3.49 ± 0.19 ^a	2.93 ± 0.13 ^b	2.72 ± 0.20 ^a
	Post-Evisceration	3.19 ± 0.15 ^a	2.91 ± 0.12 ^b	2.58 ± 0.18 ^a
	Final Rail	2.06 ± 0.14 ^b	1.86 ± 0.12 ^c	1.94 ± 0.12 ^b
	After Interventions	1.24 ± 0.17 ^c	1.47 ± 0.05 ^d	1.45 ± 0.04 ^c
	After Chilling	1.63 ± 0.25 ^b,c	2.48 ± 0.27 ^c	2.02 ± 0.23 ^b
	Cold Carcass	1.81 ± 0.28 ^b,c	2.42 ± 0.29 ^c	2.23 ± 0.27 ^b
	After Fabrication	3.26 ± 0.15 ^a	4.00 ± 0.21 ^a	3.22 ± 0.24 ^a
	p-value	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
Midline	Pre-Evisceration	2.94 ± 0.19 ^b	2.57 ± 0.06 ^b	1.87 ± 0.12 ^b
	Post-Evisceration	3.79 ± 0.24 ^a	3.81 ± 0.28 ^a	2.79 ± 0.19 ^a
	Final Rail	2.93 ± 0.23 ^b	2.77 ± 0.21 ^b	2.28 ± 0.20 ^b
	After Interventions	1.66 ± 0.23 ^c	1.53 ± 0.05 ^c	1.46 ± 0.03 ^c
	After Chilling	1.09 ± 0.12 ^c	1.61 ± 0.13 ^c	1.47 ± 0.06 ^c
	Cold Carcass	1.30 ± 0.19 ^c	1.79 ± 0.15 ^c	1.53 ± 0.09 ^c
	After Fabrication	2.72 ± 0.18 ^b	3.55 ± 0.21 ^a	2.22 ± 0.15 ^b
	p-value	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
Brisket	Pre-Evisceration	3.38 ± 0.18 ^a	2.88 ± 0.12 ^b,c	2.47 ± 0.16 ^a
	Post-Evisceration	3.23 ± 0.20 ^a	3.32 ± 0.21 ^a,b	2.54 ± 0.21 ^a
	Final Rail	2.39 ± 0.18 ^b,c	2.41 ± 0.15 ^c,d	1.92 ± 0.14 ^b
	After Interventions	1.44 ± 0.12 ^d	1.79 ± 0.12 ^e	1.41 ± 0.01 ^c
	After Chilling	2.34 ± 0.19 ^b,c	2.54 ± 0.24 ^c,d	1.58 ± 0.14 ^c
	Cold Carcass	2.23 ± 0.24 ^c	3.06 ± 0.27 ^b,c	1.73 ± 0.18 ^c
	After Fabrication	2.82 ± 0.16 ^a,b	3.96 ± 0.20 ^a	2.22 ± 0.15 ^a,b
	p-value	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001

¹ Standard error of the mean. ² Log CFU/sample is equivalent to Log CFU/100 cm² (detection limit = 0.01 CFU/cm² or 25 CFU/sample). ^(a–d) For each carcass region and microorganism, values with different letters are significantly different according to ANOVA analysis followed by pairwise comparison t-test at p < 0.05 for Aerobic plate counts and Kruskal–Wallis analysis followed by pairwise comparison Wilcoxon’s test at p < 0.05 for Enterobacteriaceae and Escherichia coli counts.