The effect of citric acid on the physicochemical and microbiological parameters of processed burger meat

Meat can undergo many changes and harbor a large number of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms during primary and further processing. The objective of this research was to study the effect of citric acid on the physicochemical and microbiological parameters of burger meat. This study was conducted in ten different processed meat factories in Lebanon during August 2018. The different samples of meat were marinated using Citric Acid (CA), with two concentrations of 1.5% (CA1.5) and 3% (CA3), untreated meat is used as a control (CA0). The burger minced meat samples were collected at four specific processing stages: grinding, spice addition, fine grinding, and molding, and then spray washed separately with citric acid. The samples were analyzed for their physicochemical properties such as pH, humidity, weight loss, meat protein. Microbiological analysis was also conducted on the meat samples (Total viable count, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Sulfite Reducing bacteria and Salmonella). Results showed that 3% of citric acid concentration resulted in the greatest reduction in cooking loss and pH, with a greater increase in the moisture content of the burger meat and had no effect on the meat protein content. Moreover, the citric acid concentration at 3% resulted in the highest reduction of bacteria population on meat burgers. It was concluded that citric acid is highly effective in decontaminating meat burgers and in preserving its physicochemical properties and can be useful during the stages of processing especially at the spice addition stage.