Using solutions containing peroxyacetic acid (PAA) to reduce contamination from pathogens on poultry carcasses and meat would not pose toxicity concerns, according to a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) news brief issued this week.
The EFSA news brief said that some treatment applications are more effective than others, for example dipping in baths is more effective than spraying. EFSA also said that it is unlikely that the use of PAA would lead to the emergence of resistance to antimicrobials and reduced susceptibility to biocides.
There are no concerns for environmental risks of all the components of the solution except for 1-hydroxyethlidene-1, 1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP). Its release from a poultry plant into the environment is not always considered safe, EFSA said. The EFSA expert panel recommended that hazard analysis critical control point plans should include monitoring of the concentration of HEDP, the decontaminating substance in the working solution, and post-marketing surveillance for resistance in both pathogenic and commensal bacteria.
The March 26 EFSA “News in Brief” is available here. The Scientific Opinion of EFSA is available here. Information about the EFSA Panel on Biological Hazards and the Biological Hazards Unit is available here.
