Incidence of Yeasts in Fresh Ground Beef and Their Ratios to Bacteria

Abstract

ABSTRACT Yeast counts were determined on 111 samples of fresh ground beef along with aerobic plate counts (APC) and counts of gram negative bacteria (GNB). Yeasts ranged from 20–62 × 10 3 /g with a mean of 8.7 × 10 3 for the 111 samples. APC ranged from 0.02 × 10 6 to 87 × 10 6 /g with a mean of 9.5 × 10 6 , while GNB ranged from 0.002 × 10 6 to 66 × 10 6 /g with a mean of 3.5 × 10 6 . When the 111 samples were divided into six groups based upon APC counts from log < 5.50 to 7.50, the mem yeast counts for each one‐half log range increased along with the means for both APC and GNB. The ratios of bacteria to yeasts were determined after dividing the samples into groups of one‐half log cycles employing APC. The ratios of APC to yeasts increased from low‐APC to high‐APC meats as did ratios of GNB to yeasts. Overall, the findings of this study indicate that the numbers of yeasts in ground beef are highly variable relative to APC or GNB. In genual, higher yeast counts were found in samples with high APC and GNB numbers.