Ozone's Impact on Beef Carcasses: A Real-World Test

The food industry is always looking for new ways to keep food safe and fresh. One method that has been tested is using ozone gas on beef carcasses in cold storage. Two different levels of ozone were used in this test. One was 3 parts per million and the other was 10 parts per million. The goal was to see if ozone could reduce bacteria and prevent weight loss in the beef. The tests were done in two separate experiments. Each experiment had 100 beef carcasses treated with ozone and 100 that were not. The beef was swabbed at different times to check for bacteria. In the first experiment, the whole surface of the beef was checked for a specific gene. This gene is linked to a harmful toxin produced by some bacteria. The results showed that ozone did affect the number of certain bacteria. In the first experiment, the beef treated with ozone had fewer bacteria than the untreated beef. However, in the second experiment, the opposite happened. The ozone-treated beef had more bacteria. This is strange and needs more investigation. The number of coliform bacteria changed over time in the second experiment. But the number of E. coli bacteria did not change in either experiment. None of the samples had the harmful gene. The weight loss of the beef was not significantly different between the treated and untreated groups. So, what does this all mean? Well, ozone did not seem to reduce the number of bacteria or prevent weight loss in the beef. This was the first time this kind of test was done in a real abattoir, not just in a lab. More research is needed to see if ozone affects the taste and quality of the beef. It is important to note that this test was done in a real-world setting. This means the results might be different from what you would see in a lab. The conditions in a real abattoir can be very different from a controlled lab environment. This is why more tests are needed to fully understand the effects of ozone on beef.