AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Displacement Ventilation to Prevent Pathogen Spread during Meat Processing
ALEXANDER ZUNIGA, Maria King, Texas A&M University
Abstract Number: 318 Working Group: Bioaerosols
Abstract Bacteria have posed a serious problem to the commercial and private food industries for centuries. Only recently have aerosolized bacteria been seen as a large threat to human health and shelf life of food. The beef industry has a particular hard problem in maintaining a clean environment in the slaughterhouses that process the cattle. Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC) and Salmonella are two severely prominent bacteria that are recognized in pathogenic spread in the meat industry. The study was conducted in a 13,000 sqft fully operational meat packing facility over the period of three years. Using dynamic monitoring devices, the Wetted Walled Cyclones (WWC), air samples were collected at 100 L/min to acquire a representative analysis of a typical full working day meat packing environment. The sampling locations focused on the dehiding area, hot box, tripe room, and fabrication room. The samples were analyzed by microbial plating, whole-cell qPCR and microbiome sequencing. The facility was modeled using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program based on the blueprints of the facility’s structure as well as of the mechanical design of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system. The concentration of airborne Salmonella and STEC has significantly elevated during the summer months. The computational air flow models that were created based on the facility’s layout and ventilation design validated with the collected bioaerosol concentrations enabled the visualization of the pathogen movement in meat processing facilities. The new design created for the optimization of the air flow to improve sanitation will be implemented in the facility for validation and further analysis. Based on the customized air flow pattern models and bioaerosol movement older facilities will have a tool to update their HVAC system to reduce pathogenic spread. New facility construction needs to be planned with optimized air flow pattern design.