Computer‐Assisted Identification of Bacteria on Hot‐Boned and Conventionally Processed Beef

Mesophilic and psychotrophic bacteria (706 isolates) obtained from hot‐boned and conventionally processed beef at the time of fabrication and after 14‐day vacuum storage at 2°C were analyzed by computer‐assisted numerical taxonomy (108 attributes per isolate). There was no significant difference in terms of the number of phenons between hot‐boned and conventionally processed beef both at the time of fabrication and after storage. Before storage, 24 mesophilic phenons and 11 psychrotrophic phenons were characterized. After storage in vacuum bags, there were 13 mesophilic phenons and 6 psychrotrophic phenons. The after storage flora consisted mainly of Streptococcus and Lactobacillus from both hot‐boned and conventionally processed beef.