| Summary: | In the US, dried beef products (beef jerky) are a popular snack product in which the manufacture often requires the use of a heat lethality step to provide adequate reduction of pathogens of concern (i.e., 5-log reduction of <i>Salmonella</i> as recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS)). Biltong, a South African-style dried beef product, is manufactured with low heat and humidity. Our objectives were to examine processes for the manufacture of biltong that achieves a 5-log reduction of <i>Salmonella</i> without a heat lethality step and with, or without, the use of additional antimicrobials. Beef pieces (1.9 cm × 5.1 cm × 7.6 cm) were inoculated with a 5-serovar mixture of <i>Salmonella</i> (<i>Salmonella</i> Thompson 120, <i>Salmonella</i> Heidelberg F5038BG1, <i>Salmonella</i> Hadar MF60404, <i>Salmonella</i> Enteritidis H3527, and <i>Salmonella</i> Typhimurium H3380), dipped in antimicrobial solutions (lactic acid, acidified calcium sulfate, sodium acid sulfate) or water (no additional antimicrobial), and marinaded while vacuum tumbling and/or while held overnight at 5 °C. After marination, beef pieces were hung in an oven set at 22.2 °C (72 °F), 23.9 °C (75 °F), or 25 °C (77 °F) depending on the process, and maintained at 55% relative humidity. Beef samples were enumerated for <i>Salmonella</i> after inoculation, after dip treatment, after marination, and after 2, 4, 6, and 8 days of drying. Water activity was generally <0.85 by the end of 6–8 days of drying and weight loss was as high as 60%. Trials also examined salt concentration (1.7%, 2.2%, 2.7%) and marinade vinegar composition (2%, 3%, 4%) in the raw formulation. Nearly all approaches achieved 5-log<sub>10</sub> reduction of <i>Salmonella</i> and was attributed to the manner of microbial enumeration eliminating the effects of microbial concentration on dried beef due to moisture loss. All trials were run as multiple replications and statistical analysis of treatments were determined by repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) to determine significant differences (<i>p</i> < 0.05). We believe this is the first published report of a biltong process achieving >5.0 log<sub>10</sub> reduction of <i>Salmonella</i> which is a process validation requirement of USDA-FSIS for the sale of dried beef in the USA.
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