BigPatents India

A method comprising rapidly cooling meat by exposure to a rapid cooling temperature of no more than about -10°C for sufficient time to provide a frozen crust on the meat and chilling the resultant crust-frozen meat by exposure of said crust-frozen meat to a chilling temperature greater than the rapid cooling temperature but no more than about +10°C to raise the temperature of the surface of the meat and to maintain said surface at a temperature no higher than the freezing temperature of the meat for at least sufficient time to injure lethally and/or kill bacteria, is used to reduce the viability of bacteria on meat. The method has particular application in the processing of poultry meat to kill bacteria comprising the Campylobacter and/or Salmonella species. One advantage of the invention is meat is disinfected in a non-intrusive manner, leaving the meat in as natural a state as possible.