effect of electron beam irradiation on survival of escherichia coli o157:h7 and salmonella enterica serovar thyphimurium in minced camel meat during refrigerated storage

Background: electron beam irradiation is one of the effective ways to control food-borne pathogens. we evaluated the effect of electron beam irradiation on survival of escherichia coli o157:h7 and salmonella enterica serovar thyphimurium in minced camel meat during refrigerated storage. methods: the meat samples were inoculated with e. coli o157:h7 and s. enterica serovar thyphimurium and then irradiated with doses of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 5 kgy. the samples were stored at 4±1 °c and evaluated microbiologically up to 10 days. data were analyzed using spss software version 18. results: the microbial loads of minced camel meat samples were significantly reduced (p<0.0001) with increasing the dose of irradiation. the most effective dose was 5 kgy that highly reduced s. enterica serovar typhimurium, and completely destroyed e. coli o157:h7. however, e. coli o157:h7 was more sensitive to electron beam irradiation than s. enterica serovar typhimurium. conclusion: electron beam irradiation effectively reduced the population of both e. coli o157:h7 and s. enterica serovar typhimurium in minced camel meat in a dose dependent manner.