Innovative Minds
Getting the Most Out of Your BEEF W
Story and Photos by Kelli Chapman
hen buying beef, consumers look for a bright red color and mild odor to indicate freshness. If packers and retailers can prolong this vibrant color, much less beef will be wasted, and the beef industry can be more profitable. The growth of bacteria in ground beef directly affects these quality indicators that consumers use on a daily basis. Texas Tech University prides itself on innovative research. Texas Tech’s International Center for Food Industry Excellence (ICFIE) and Department of Animal and Food Sciences have been working together to address this challenge. The pathogen processing lab in the
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food technology building has been a key factor in achieving numerous research projects. To maximize research success, as well as product quality and safety, this processing lab has been duplicated as closely as possible to the meat lab. One major project that is currently on the edge of success is increasing shelf life of perishable foods – particularly, ground beef. Alejandro Echeverry, post doctoral research associate and Tech alumnus, works closely with food science professor Mindy Brashears, Ph.D., and 15 animal and food science graduate students in researching ways to increase the shelf life of ground beef. This research began in 2002 and focused on controlling pathogens
related to various foodborne illnesses. Echeverry’s goal is to reduce the levels of harmful bacteria that spoil beef to increase the safety of the beef for consumption, and allow grocery stores and supermarkets to carry the products longer. Echeverry said he thinks he and his team have found a way to increase the shelf-life of ground beef by three to four days, and those extra days can greatly benefit the beef industry. He said two main factors help accomplish this shelf-life extension: lactic acid bacteria and modified atmospheric packaging. Lactic acid bacteria, or LAB, is a bacteria compound naturally found in many living organisms including yogurt, cheese and other probiotics. Echeverry’s study found that when certain useful strands found in LAB are applied to ground beef, the growth of harmful pathogens that cause food to spoil slows. As LAB controls pathogen growth in ground beef, shelflife is increased. This same concept can be applied in prolonging the shelf life of various vegetables as well. When injecting the LAB, the Tech researchers have discovered the precise amount of LAB needed to control pathogen growth; however, the researchers have also discovered that it is not necessarily harmful if too much LAB is added. Because LAB cannot be overadministered in ground beef, virtually any amount of LAB added to ground beef is safe to consume. Still, as effective as it is in maintaining a desired color and flavor for an extended period of time, LAB doesn’t make ground