S almonella sp. Occurrence in Minced Meat, Meat Preparations and Mechanically Separated Meat in P oland

Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of Salmonella sp. in raw meat products such as porcine and bovine minced meat, meat preparations including chopped, gourmet and grill porcine meat, bovine gourmet and stew meat, poultry products such as gourmet and chopped turkey, mechanically separated poultry meat and porcine fresh sausages (n = 1,943). Salmonella sp. occurred in 2.9% of the tested products. The bacteria were absent in bovine and porcine minced meat (0/300) and bovine meat preparations (0/55); whereas, Salmonella sp. occurred in 0.4% (1/260) of porcine meat preparations and in 0.7% (2/305) of fresh sausages. The highest prevalence of the pathogen was noted in poultry products such as poultry meat preparations (5.5%, 50/913) and mechanically separated meat (3.6%, 4/110). Practical Applications The present study demonstrates that poultry meat preparations and mechanically separated poultry meat are more frequent carriers of Salmonella sp. than porcine and bovine meat products. Thus, special attention shall be given to hygienic conditions and appropriate thermal treatment during the processing of poultry meat in meat processing plants and households to avoid cross‐contamination. The information contained in this article may also be useful for national and international food safety regulatory officials.