Abstract

Violations of temperature and humidity storage conditions and the intensive development of lactic acid putrefactive microorganisms (micrococcus, yeast, and mold fungi) lead to destructive changes in muscle tissue. The studies established the effect of single and repeated defrosting of turkey meat on the increase in the number of microorganisms that cause spoilage of products and being criteria for meat hygiene and biological safety. As a result of the study, there were no detecting bacteria of the genus Salmonella in a sample of 25g of chilled, defrosted, and re-defrosted turkey meat. Also, there was no detecting growth of Listeria monocytogenes and bacteria of the Escherichia coli group in a sample of 1g of the product. On the other hand, significant changes were in the dynamics of microbial contamination in terms of the number of mesophilic aerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms. Thus, in cooled samples, the total microbial contamination was 3.2×102±0.2 colonies of forming units per 1g of product. In samples of defrosted turkey meat, this indicator increased 1.8 times and amounted to 5.6×102±0.4. However, the obtained value did not exceed the maximum permissible, regulated in the normative and technical documentation. Samples of re-defrosted turkey meat in terms of quantity of Mesophilic Aerobic and Facultative Anaerobic Microorganisms corresponded to 4.7×103±0.2, which is 14.5 times higher than in chilled meat samples and 8.4 times higher than in defrosted meat. In addition, the established value of the indicator of microbial contamination in re-defrosting meat exceeded the maximum permissible value established by regulatory enactments. Thus, there is a direct effect of repeated freezing of raw meat on its good quality and safety. Therefore, the solution to such a practical problem as identifying the thermal state of turkey meat acquires a significant role.