Microflora Isolated from Imported Frozen Lean Beef Pieces .

Forty samples of frozen imported lean beef pieces from six countries were obtained from two centralized meat processing operations. The samples were analyzed for total aerobic counts (35, 20, 7 C), yeasts and molds, fecal streptococci, Staphylococcus aureus , Clostridium perfringens , total coliforms, fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli , and Salmonella . Characterization of the microbial flora from 20 of the samples was also done. Microbial counts were consistently low in all analyses; no Clostridium perfringens or Salmonella was recovered from any samples. The microbial flora was predominantly Pseudomonas , Flavobacterium , Moraxella , Acinetobacter , Corynebacterium , Micrococcus , Staphylococcus and Lactobacillus ; the remaining isolates included Alcaligenes , Erwinia , Citrobacter , Klebsiella , Streptococcus , Bacillus and Arthrobacter .