• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.734-742
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• 2021

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the occurrence and species of coagulase-positive staphylococci (CoPS) and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) in retail pork meat samples collected during nationwide monitoring. The staphylococcal isolates were characterized for antimicrobial and zinc chloride resistance and enterotoxigenic potential. Methods: A total of 260 pre-packaged pork meat samples were collected from 35 retail markets in 8 provinces in Korea for isolation of staphylococci. Antimicrobial and zinc chloride resistance phenotypes, and genes associated with the resistance phenotypes were determined on the isolates. Furthermore, the presence and distribution of 19 staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) genes and enterotoxin-like genes among the pork-associated staphylococci were determined by multiplex polymerase chain reaction-based assays using the specific primer sets. Results: A total of 29 staphylococcal strains (29/260, 11.1%) were isolated from samples of retail pork meat, 24 (83%) of which were CoNS. The four CoNS species identified were S. saprophyticus (n = 16, 55%), S. sciuri (n = 3, 10%), S. warneri (n = 3, 10%), and S. epidermidis (n = 2, 7%). Among the 29 isolates, four methicillin-resistant CoNS (MR-CoNS; three S. sciuri and one S. epidermidis) and one methicillin-resistant CoPS (MR-CoPS; one S. aureus) were identified. In addition, a relatively high level of tetracycline (TET) resistance (52%) was confirmed in CoNS, along with a predominant distribution of tet(K). The most prevalent SEs were sep (45%), and sen (28%), which were carried by 81% of S. saprophyticus. Conclusion: These findings suggest that CoNS, especially S. saprophyticus strains, in raw pork meat could be a potential risk factor for staphylococcal food poisoning (SFP), and therefore, requires further investigation to elucidate the role of SEls in SFP and virulence of the pathogen. Our results also suggest that CoNS from raw pork meat may act as a source for transmission of antimicrobial resistance genes such as staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec and tet(K).

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.2012-2022
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• 2021

Objective: In most retail centers, primal pork cuts for sale are usually prepared into retail-ready slices and overwrapped with air-permeable plastic film. Also, meat of Korean native black pig (KNP) is reputed for its superior quality, however, its shelf life during retail display has not been studied. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate shelf life of prepackaged retail-ready KNP belly and shoulder butt slices during refrigerated display. Methods: Bellies and shoulder butt obtained at 24 h post-mortem from finishing KNP were used. Each belly or shoulder butt was manually cut into 1.5 cm-thick slices. The slices in each cut type were randomly taken and placed on white foam tray (2 slices/tray) overwrapped with polyvinyl chloride film. The retail-ready packages were then placed in a retail display cabinet at 4℃. Shelf life and sensory quality of the samples were evaluated on day 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 of display. Results: The shoulder butt reached the upper limit (20 mg/100 g) of volatile basic nitrogen for fresh meat after 9 days while, the belly remained within this limit throughout the display time (15 days). Both the cuts reached a thiobarbituric acid reactive substances level of above 0.5 mg malondialdehyde/kg after 9 days. The a^* (redness) values remained unchanged during first 9 days in both cuts (p>0.05). After 9 days, off-flavor was not found in either cut, but higher off-flavor intensity was found in shoulder butt after 12 days. The shoulder butt was unacceptable for overall eating quality after 12 days while, belly still was acceptable after 12 days. Conclusion: The belly showed a longer shelf life compared to the shoulder butt, and a shelf life of 9 and 12 days is recommended for the prepackaged retail-ready KNP shoulder butt and belly slices, respectively.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.225-239
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• 2022

As commensal colonizers in livestock, there has been little attention on staphylococci, especially non-aureus staphylococci (NAS), contaminating meat production chain. To assess prevalence of staphylococci in retail pork and slaughterhouse carcass samples in Korea, we collected 578 samples from Korean slaughterhouses (n=311) and retail markets (n=267) for isolation of staphylococci and determined antimicrobial resistance phenotypes in all the isolates. The presence of and prevalence of fusB-family genes (fusB, fusC, fusD, and fusF) and mutations in fusA genes were examined in fusidic acid resistant isolates. A total of 47 staphylococcal isolates of 4 different species (Staphylococcus aureus, n=4; S. hyicus, n=1; S. epidermidis, n=10; Mammaliicoccus sciuri, n=32) were isolated. Fusidic acid resistance were confirmed in 9/10 S. epidermidis and all of the 32 M. sciuri (previously S. sciuri) isolates. Acquired fusidic acid resistance genes were detected in all the resistant strains; fusB and fusC in S. epidermidis and fusB/C in M. sciuri. Multi-locus sequence type analysis revealed that ST63 (n=10, 31%) and ST30 (n=8, 25%) genotypes were most prevalent among fusidic acid resistant M. sciuri isolates. In conclusion, the high prevalence of fusB-family genes in S. epidermidis and M. sciuri strains isolated from pork indicated that NAS might act as a reservoir for fusidic acid resistance gene transmissions in pork production chains.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.829-838
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• 2007

The effect of tumbling time(0, 1, and 2hr) on quality characteristics of cured-smoked pork retail cuts (Bolgi, Seolgit, Boseop, Dogani, Satae) of hind leg was investigated. Quality analyses indicated the retail cuts of pork hind leg are variable except for proximate composition. The Satae ham had the lowest (P<0.05) lightness (L) and highest redness (a). The Bolgi and Seolgit ham had higher hardness than the other hams. Tumbling time(0, 1, and 2hr) had no significant(P>0.05) effect on proximate composition, pH, color, texture properties, and sensory properties of ham. However tumbling decreased cooking loss for Satae ham tumbled for 2hr(P<0.05). Tumbling time was required for more than 2hr to improve quality and obtain maximum yield of retail cut hams. Further study is necessary to improve quality and obtain maximum yield of pork retail cuts of hind leg.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1460-1466
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• 2015

In this study, the prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) was investigated among raw meat or meat products from slaughterhouses and retail markets in South Korea, and their potential for antibiotic resistance and virulence was further analyzed. A total of 912 raw meats, including beef, pork, and chicken, were collected from 2008 to 2009. E. coli strains were frequently isolated in chicken meats (176/233, 75.9%), beef (102/217, 42.3%), and pork (109/235, 39.2%). Putative STEC isolates were further categorized, based on the presence or absence of the Shiga toxin (stx) genes, followed by standard O-serotyping. Polymerase chain reaction assays were used to detect the previously defined virulence genes in STEC, including Shiga toxins 1 and Shiga toxin 2 (stx1 and 2), enterohemolysin (ehxA), intimin (eaeA), STEC autoagglutination adhesion (saa), and subtilase cytotoxin (subAB). All carried both stx1 and eae genes, but none of them had the stx2, saa, or subAB genes. Six (50.0%) STEC isolates possessed the ehxA gene, which is known to be encoded by the 60-megadalton virulence plasmid. Our antibiogram profiling demonstrated that some STEC strains, particularly pork and chicken isolates, displayed a multiple drug-resistance phenotype. RPLA analysis revealed that all the stx1-positive STEC isolates produced Stx1 only at the undetectable level. Altogether, these results imply that the locus of enterocyte and effacement (LEE)-positive strains STEC are predominant among raw meats or meat products from slaughterhouses or retail markets in Korea.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.594-600
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• 2016

This study aimed to examine the microbial contamination levels in livestock products at retail stores. Beef, pork, and chicken samples from raw materials and final products were obtained between January and December 2015. All homogenized meat samples (25 g) were tested for the aerobic plate count (APC), coliform count (CC), and Escherichia coli count (E. coli). The highest APCs in meat samples, by month, at retail shops were obtained in September, followed by July, May, and October (p<0.001). However, APC was the highest in summer and the lowest in winter (p<0.001). Average APCs for beef, pork, and chicken samples were 2.90, 3.19, and 3.79 Log CFU/g, respectively (p<0.05). A comparison between different months revealed that, CC levels in meat samples ranged from 0 to 1.13 CFU/g, and the highest CC was obtained in August (p<0.001). By season, the highest CC was found in the summer, followed by autumn, and spring (p<0.001). All meat samples were negative for E. coli. The average log₁₀APC and CC for all samples was 3.10 and 0.37 Log CFU/g, respectively. Furthermore, there was a direct correlation between the season and coliform presence (p<0.001). There was also a positive correlation between the APC and CC (r = 0.517, p<0.001). The microbiological APCs for livestock products were in most cases below 10⁶ CFU/g.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.983-991
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• 2017

This study was performed to update the National Standard Food Composition Table (NSFCT) published by Korea Rural Development Administration, especially focusing on vitamin $B_{12}$ for Korean pork. Total 7 primal and 22 retail fresh cuts of Korean pork were analyzed for vitamin $B_{12}$ and the applied immunoaffinity-HPLC was validated. Vitamin $B_{12}$ assay by immunoaffinity-HPLC obtained recoveries over 95% and coefficient variations of precision below about 10%, which met the limits required for validation acceptance. Limits of detection and quantification of immunoaffinity-HPLC were 0.01 and $0.33{\mu}g/100g$, respectively. Quality control chart showed that analysis performance was excellent during the entire of study. Vitamin $B_{12}$ contents of pork cuts significantly varied depending the types of primal and its retail cuts (p<0.05). Belly, Boston butt, rib cuts showed relatively high vitamin $B_{12}$ contents compared to other primal cuts. Vitamin $B_{12}$ content of pork retail cuts were also significantly different within the same primal cuts (p<0.05). Among 22 retail cuts, the highest vitamin $B_{12}$ was observed in Tosisal in belly primal part ($0.98{\mu}g/100g$) while both Aldeungsimsal in loin and Hongdukkaesal in hide leg were the lowest by $0.33{\mu}g/100g$. This study provides reliable vitamin $B_{12}$ data for the Korean pork fresh cuts through standard sampling, method validation and analytical quality control, which would be used for update of Korean NSFCT.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.204-208
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• 2000

The contamination levels of food poisoning bacteria was investigated from 350 samples of beef, 338 samples of pork, and 360 samples of chicken during the period from March 1996 to October 1998. The contamination levels of pathogenic organisms were higher in refrigerated meat than packed frozen meat and were relatively higher in chicken and packed meat than in beef The highest level detected for each of the various pathogens was . less than 10,000 cfu/g for Staphylococcus aureus : less than 0.9 MPN/g for Salmonella and Literia monocytogenes: 7MPN/g for Campylobacter jejuni /coli. In the comparisions of cross- contamination ratio of tested meat for low species food poisoning bacteria 14.3% of beef, 23.5% of pork and 55.0% of chicken were contained only one species of pathogen, whereas 2.7 of beef, 5.6% of pork and 14.7% of chicken contained two species and 2.3% of pork contained a total of three species. Generally, pathogens was encounted higher isolation freguency in packed frozen chicken meat than in chilled chickens.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.437-446
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• 2018

To investigate the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in pork on the market in Korea, an in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for tissue fluid (CAU-tf-ELISA) was developed using a soluble extract of T. gondii RH strain tachyzoites. As the standard positive controls, the piglets were experimentally infected with T. gondii: Group A (1,000 cysts-containing bradyzoites), Group B (500 cysts-containing bradyzoites) and Group C ($1.0{\times}10^3$ or $1.0{\times}10^4$ tachyzoites). The CAU-tf-ELISA demonstrated infection intensity-dependent positivity toward tissue fluids with average cut-off value 0.15: 100% for Group A, 93.8% for Group B and 40.6% for Group C. When tissue-specific cut-off values 0.066-0.199 were applied, CAU-tf-ELISA showed 96.7% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% positive and 90.0% negative predictive values. When compared with the same tissue fluids, performance of CAU-tf-ELISA was better than that of a commercial ELISA kit. Of the 583 Korea domestic pork samples tested, anti-T. gondii antibodies were detected from 9.1% of whole samples and 37.9% from skirt meat highest among pork parts. In the 386 imported frozen pork samples, 1.8% (skirt meat and shoulder blade) were positive for anti-T. gondii antibodies. In Korea, prevalence of anti-T. gondii antibodies in the pork on retail markets appeared high, suggesting that regulations on pig farming and facilities are necessary to supply safe pork on the tables.

• Journal of the FoodService Safety
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.49-58
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• 2022

The objectives of this study were to investigate the behavior characteristics of pathogenic E. coli, Salmonella Typhimurium, Campylobacter jejuni, and Listeria monocytogenes in various kinds of meat (beef, chicken, and pork) and to compare their risk using FDA-iRISK. The growth of S. Typhimurium in chicken and pathogenic E. coli in pork and beef was well supported and posed a high risk. A similar trend was observed in the risk comparison results using the iRISK. When comparing total disability adjusted life years (DALY) per year based on the kinds of meat, chicken was the highest (88.2), followed by pork (58.5) and beef for "yukhoe" (18.8). When comparing scenarios grouped by bacteria, The highest total DALYs per year was observed with pathogenic E. coli (121), followed by S. Typhimurium (44.8) and L. monocytogenes (1.67E-³). These results indicate that the risk of combining meat and foodborne pathogens varies under the same distribution environment. Thus, strict management and supervision are required to store and deliver raw meat to prevent cross-contamination among the raw meats at the processing plant and retail market.