Use of Organic Acids to Control Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus Infection in Swine Jowl Fat

The objective of this work was to evaluate the mortality of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus inoculated in fresh swine jowls treated with different concentrations of organic acids (lactic, acetic, citric, and ascorbic) for 1, 5, and 10 min. Lactic and acetic acids showed minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 1.25 and 0.94 µL/mL against E. coli and S. aureus , respectively. Citric and ascorbic acids showed MICs of 3.75 and 7.5 µL/mL for both bacteria. In swine jowl fat, lactic acid provided mortality above 90% for both bacteria, at a concentration of 0.21% for E. coli with 5 and 10 min of exposure and 1.06% for S. aureus already with 1 min of exposure. Acetic acid showed mortality above 85% for E. coli , in the concentrations above 1.06% after 10 min, and 1.28% after 1 min of exposure. As for S. aureus , the high mortality was 73% with the maximum concentration and exposure time evaluated. Citric and ascorbic acids showed mortality of 90 and 70% for E. coli with 2.0%, respectively, and around 70% with 1.75 and 2.0% for both bacteria’s. It was determined that lactic and acetic acids have good antimicrobial action against E. coli , but only lactic acid can be used at an industrial level for the microbiological control of in nature fat from swine jowls against S. aureus .