Pulsed electric field treatment of muscle tissue inactivates Trichinella spiralis larvae. Pig and wild boar muscles as a case study

Abstract

Several methods of post-harvest control of Trichinella in meat exist, and almost all have certain drawbacks. Theuse of pulsed electric field (PEF) technology is increasingly being studied to ensure food safety. In this research,PEF was evaluated as a potential method for inactivating Trichinella spiralis (T. spiralis) larvae in muscle tissuesamples obtained from naturally infected wild boars and pigs. The samples, weighing 0.4–0.7 g and measuringapproximately 2 × 1 × 0.5 cm, were cut from ham muscles and had been carefully stripped of removable fat andconnective tissue before undergoing PEF processing under varying parameters. For PEF-treated wild boar musclesamples, the application of 100 J/g at 8.5 kV/cm or 9.5 kV/cm and 10 kV/cm combined with 25 J/g or 50 J/gtypically resulted in the presence of both non-motile, coiled T. spiralis muscle larvae (ML) accompanied by singlemotile parasites. In the range of electric field strengths of 7–10 kV/cm, the application of specific energy of 200J/g resulted in the killing of all T. spiralis ML. The lethal effect of the energy of 100 J/g depended on the value offield strength; complete larval destruction was observed when an electric field intensity of 10 kV/cm was used.For pig muscle samples, administration of 100 J/g combined with 9.5 kV/cm resulted in the presence of onlydead T. spiralis ML. The use of PEF parameters, which were lethal to T. spiralis, did not cause changes in theexternal and internal appearance of the meat, nor did it affect the meat color parameters (L*, a*, b*) measured bythe instrumental method (P>0.05)