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Beef trimmings, inoculated with Escherichia coli (EC) and Salmonella typhimurium (ST), were treated with 3% potassium lactate (K‐L), 4% sodium metasilicate (NMS), 0.1% acidified sodium chlorite (ASC) or 0.02% peroxyacetic acid (PAA) prior to grinding. The ground beef packages were sampled at 0, 1, 2, 3 and 7 days of simulated retail display. All treatments reduced (P < 0.05) EC, coliforms and aerobic plate counts up to and some in excess of 1 log and ST count ≥ 1.5 logs. Sensory panelists found ground beef from all treatments to generally be similar (P > 0.05) to the control in odor and similar (P > 0.05) in color for the K‐L and NMS treatments during initial display. Instrumental color results indicated that K‐L, NMS and PAA were similar (P > 0.05) in redness (a*) to the control. These findings indicated that use of tested antimicrobial agents can reduce microbial numbers with little impact on sensory odor and color characteristics. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Although antimicrobial interventions have shown promising results in decontaminating meat products, there are only a limited number of antimicrobial products that can be used without causing adverse effects on quality characteristics of the final product. Consumers often discriminate against discolored meat products, and thus any deleterious effects on color and other quality attributes in decontaminated products will lead to a negative economic impact. The outcome of this research will provide information on selection of antimicrobial agents that will maximize ground beef safety without causing deleterious effects on quality attributes. Application of suitable antimicrobial interventions at the end of a production line will be advantageous to supply ground beef with increased shelf‐life and decreased or no risk for illnesses caused by pathogens.

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