Summary
Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, which causes Johne’s disease in livestock, can bepresent in red meat from infected animals. Because of a perceived link between this organism andCrohn’s disease in humans, its inactivation during cooking was investigated. Moderate to high levelsof contamination are most likely to be eliminated during domestic cooking of lamb as inactivation of105 organisms was observed after 4 to 5 mins at 65 °C or 10 to 15 sec at 70 °C. The lamb roast wasused as a model cooking method in this study, but the results are generally applicable to othercooking methods and types of red meat. When combined with hygienic food handling practices,consumers can have a high degree of confidence that cooking of red meat affords a very low risk ofviable M. avium paratuberculosis being consumed.
