CANADA - CLEANING UP THE MEAT PLANTS.
A recent scientific project completed by Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development’s Food Safety Division shows that stepping into a boot bath solution to disinfect the footwear of workers at meat plants can make a contribution toward improving food safety.
The boot baths were placed outside the kill floor in eight provincially licensed abattoirs in Alberta during 2007-2008.
"The results showed a statistically significant reduction in the number of bacteria after using the boot bath. This means that placing disinfecting boot baths outside the kill floors in abattoirs may reduce the numbers of micro-organisms within the plant that could eventually contaminate the meat," said Son Nguyen, a food safety specialist with the Food Safety Division, Edmonton.
Swabs were used to take samples from 48 pairs of boots before they were immersed in the boot bath and afterward and sent to a laboratory for analysis.
The boots that were immersed in the disinfectant solution in the boot baths showed 10 times less bacteria.
Mr Nguyen says a productive partnership between provincial meat plants and Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development made the project possible.
"The cooperation of the meat plants was extremely important," he says.
"Without their interest, this study would not have been completed.
"They provided their facilities, staff and time to help out on this study. It’s a really good example of how industry and the Food Safety Division can work together to use science in our efforts to keep raising the level of food safety in the province.
"The scientific information gathered in this study will provide processors with practical and useful information so they can adopt the use of disinfecting boot baths as part of their regular food safety practices."
Mr Nguyen says it is essential that the boot baths are properly maintained, with the disinfecting solution replaced often to keep it effective.
The study’s findings should help to promote the use of boot baths in abattoirs and to contribute toward improving the food safety level for consumers.
