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S. N. ALBRIGHT¹, P. A. Kendall¹, and J. N. Sofos². (1) Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Colorado State University, Gifford Building, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1571, (2) Department of Animal Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523

The U.S. Department of Agriculture-Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) recommends a 5-log reduction of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in processed fermented and semidry foods to be considered safe. Discrepancies exist as to whether current practices for home-dried jerky can achieve such reduction. Therefore, USDA-FSIS recommends precooking of meat to 71.1 °C before drying at 54.5-60.0 °C. However, consumers may object to the cooked flavor of jerky prepared in this manner.

The objective of this study was to evaluate consumer response to beef jerky prepared by various treatments found to result in a 5-log (± 0.5) reduction of inoculated E. coli O157:H7 populations.

Five jerky preparation methods were evaluated. All involved two pretreatment steps: (a) 15-sec boiling water dip, marinated (4 °C); (b) seasoned (4 °C), 1.5 min dip, 78.0 °C pickling solution; (c) 20-sec dip, 57.5 °C 1:1 vinegar/water, marinated (4 °C); (d) method (c), steps reversed; (e) method (b), dried for 8 h. All treatments, except method (e), were dried at 62.5 °C for 10 h. A taste panel was conducted (n=120) at three central locations. Sensory characteristics (Appearance, Dryness, Texture, Flavor, and Overall Acceptability) were evaluated on a 7-point scale, with ‘7’ being highly acceptable. Store-bought jerky was used as the control.

Store-bought jerky received higher (p < 0.05) scores (4.9 to 5.6) than experimental products (3.4 to 5.5) for most sensory characteristics. Although differences among experimental products were slight, the two vinegar/water dip methods showed the most promise (3.8 to 5.5).

The results of this study indicated moderate consumer acceptance of the five experimental jerky products. This information is useful in forming recommendations to produce flavorful home-dried jerky, while minimizing the risk of E. coli O157:H7.