Patent ID: 8187652

Claim:
A method of reducing a microbial population on whole or sectioned muscle meat product during processing comprising applying to the whole or sectioned muscle meat product during processing and before packaging a medium chain peroxycarboxylic acid antimicrobial composition for an exposure time of at least about 5 to about 15 seconds wherein the exposure time is sufficient to reduce the microbial population, the medium chain peroxycarboxylic acid antimicrobial composition consisting essentially of: (a) a single peroxycarboxylic acid consisting of about 2 to about 500 ppm peroxyoctanoic acid; (b) about 5 to about 2000 ppm octanoic acid; (c) about 95 to about 99.99 wt. % water; (d) about 2 to about 23,000 ppm at least one of a material selected from the group consisting of polyalkylene oxide, monoalkyl ether of polyalkylene oxide, dialkyl ether of polyalkylene oxide, nonionic surfactant, anionic surfactant, and mixtures thereof; and (e) a foaming agent comprising an anionic surfactant selected from the group consisting of a secondary alkane sulfonate, an alkylated diphenyl oxide disulfonate, an alkyl ether sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, and mixtures thereof; the composition comprising at least about 2 parts by weight of peroxyoctanoic acid for each 7 parts by weight of octanoic acid.