The safety and hygienic quality of the carcasses are largely determined by the presence of microorganisms which are ubiquitous in nature. The study investigates the potential of lipase (1%) on the bacterial counts viz. total viable count (TVC), coliform count (CC), Escherichia coli count (ECC), Enterococcal count (EC) and sulphite reducing clostridium count (SRC) on beef carcass in a meat processing plant in Kerala. On treatment with the sanitizer, the TVC of the control beef carcass (7.42±0.23 log10 cfu/ml) was reduced to 5.03±0.28 log10cfu/ml. There was statistically significant reduction (P≤0.05) in the E coli count from 2.29 ±0.17 log10cfu/ml to 1.01±0.21 log10cfu/ml. However, there was no significant difference in the CC, EC and SRC of beef carcasses on treatment with the sanitizer. The application of lipase did not produce any colour change on the carcass. The result of the study reveals the potential of lipase as a sanitizer in meat processing industry.
