Relationships between Processing Delay and Microbial Load of Broiler Neck Skin Samples

The measurable microbial load on poultry carcasses during processing is determined by a number of factors including farm or origin, processing hygiene, and external temperature. This study investigated associations between carcass microbial load and progressive delays to processing. A total of 30 ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of food protection 2010, Vol.73 (1), p.26-31
Main Authors: LUCIANEZ, A, HOLMES, M. A, TUCKER, A. W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abattoirs
Animal productions
Animals
Bacteria, Aerobic - growth & development
Biological and medical sciences
Chickens
Colony Count, Microbial
Consumer Product Safety
Enterobacteriaceae - growth & development
Food
Food contamination & poisoning
Food Contamination - analysis
Food Contamination - prevention & control
Food Handling - methods
Food industries
Food Microbiology
Food safety
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Hygiene
ISO standards
Meat
Meat - microbiology
Meat processing
Pathogens
Poultry
Pseudomonas - growth & development
Regulation
Salmonella
Skin - microbiology
Staphylococcus aureus - growth & development
Temperature
Terrestrial animal productions
Time Factors
Trends
Vertebrates
Zoonoses
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Summary:The measurable microbial load on poultry carcasses during processing is determined by a number of factors including farm or origin, processing hygiene, and external temperature. This study investigated associations between carcass microbial load and progressive delays to processing. A total of 30 carcasses were delayed immediately after defeathering and before evisceration in a commercial abattoir in groups of five, and were held at ambient temperature for 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 h. Delayed carcasses were reintroduced to the processing line, and quantitative assessment of total viable count, coliforms, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas spp. was undertaken on neck skin flap samples collected after carcass chilling and then pooled for each group. Sampling was repeated on 5 separate days, and the data were combined. Significant increases in total viable count (P = 0.001) and coliforms (P = 0.004), but not for S. aureus or Pseudomonas loads, were observed across the 8-h period of delay. In line with previous studies, there was significant variation in microbiological data according to sampling day. In conclusion, there is a significant and measurable decline in microbiological status of uneviscerated but defeathered poultry carcasses after an 8-h delay, but the variability of sampling results, reflecting the wide range of factors that impact microbial load, means that it is not possible to determine maximum or minimum acceptable periods of processing delay based on this criterion alone.
ISSN:0362-028X
1944-9097
DOI:10.4315/0362-028X-73.1.26