eBeam technology evaluated for poultry food safety and flavour
Microbial contamination of poultry products remains a persistent concern in the food industry, so researchers have been evaluating how technologies could be used to enhance microbial safety and control food pathogens while preserving the meat quality of poultry products.
In a recent study, published in the journal Poultry Science, the researchers found that the Electron Beam (eBeam) was effective on ground turkey with no flavour impacts.
At the heart of the study is a non-thermal technology called eBeam, which uses high-energy electron beams that cause irreparable damage to pathogen DNA. Along with X-rays and gamma rays, eBeam is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for “cold pasteurisation” — a germ-killing technique that doesn’t rely on heat.
X-rays, gamma rays and electron beams have been used for decades “for pathogen control in fresh, frozen and refrigerated food,” said Palmy Jesudhasan, a research microbiologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. However, the technology’s use in poultry “still lacks the data to build confidence” in its use.
This study hoped to change that by looking at ground poultry, which is a source of Salmonella and Campylobacter in some recalls.
How does it work?
The research team used what is claimed to be the world’s largest electron beam irradiator at the National Center for Electron Beam Research, housed at Texas A&M University.
“eBeam is mainly used for sterilisation purposes,” Jesudhasan said. “When you expose any cells, whether it’s human cells, bacterial cells, or virus to the beam, it hits the nucleus and shreds DNA or RNA so bacteria cannot replicate.”
While it can halt bad bacteria, the beam can induce other effects, such as generating “other reactive oxygen species that can also cause not-so-good side effects for the bacteria”.
How to find the right dose?
While the electron beam doesn’t heat or cook the meat, its oxidising qualities need to be carefully monitored, especially in poultry, said Casey Owens, professor and meat scientist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
“You’ve got to do the meat quality testing, because the oxidation is really the main thing that can start changing quality,” she said.
Poultry’s higher levels of unsaturated fats make it more susceptible to oxidation.
“Oxidation breaks down fats, and the degradation of those fats causes off-flavours and off-odours,” Owens said.
Highly oxidised fats make “meats very off-putting because it affects not only the flavour, but odour and sometimes the colour,” Owens said. “Consumers are not going to like it.”
Jesudhasan said the research found differences in how the electron beam affected turkey versus chicken.
The turkey used in the study was in modified atmosphere packaging, or MAP. In this type of packaging, the ratios of oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen are adjusted to slow oxidation.
The researchers were able to inactivate pathogens and show that the meat quality was preserved in the turkey; however, an ‘off note’ was mentioned for the chicken meat.
The authors concluded that using eBeam “offers a promising intervention strategy to enhance microbial safety while minimising heat-induced changes in meat quality”.
“In our previous study, we demonstrated that eBeam dose at 3 kilogray* achieved 99.99% reduction of Salmonella and Campylobacter in one-pound commercial packages of ground poultry meat inoculated with these pathogens,” the authors said in the study.
*Kilogray is a metric unit of absorbed radiation.
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