BACTERIAL COUNTS ON RIGHT AND LEFT SIDES OF PRE-CHILL BROILER CARCASSES

Authors: Cason Jr, John; Berrang, Mark

Submitted to: Southern Poultry Science Society Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/1999
Publication Date: 7/1/2000
Citation: CASON JR, J.A., BERRANG, M.E. BACTERIAL COUNTS ON RIGHT AND LEFT SIDES OF PRE-CHILL BROILER CARCASSES. SOUTHERN POULTRY SCIENCE SOCIETY MEETING ABSTRACT. 2000.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Bacterial counts from paired broiler carcass halves were examined for relationships between numbers and kinds of bacteria that might indicate fecal contamination. Broiler carcasses removed from a commercial processing plant just before chilling were split aseptically and each half was rinsed in 400 ml of phosphate buffered saline for one minute with either mechanical or hand shaking. Six carcasses were rinsed on four different days for each shaking method. Aerobic bacteria, coliforms, E. coli, and Campylobacter were enumerated in rinses from left and right halves, which were summed to obtain whole carcass counts. There were no significant (P<0.05) differences in numbers of bacteria between rinse methods or between left and right sides. For APC, coliforms, E. coli, and Campylobacter, correlations between paired left and right side counts were between 0.78 and 0.86. The correlation between whole carcass counts and absolute left-right differences was significant for APC (0.43), but was not significant for coliforms, E. coli, and Campylobacter. Carcasses with higher-than-average E. coli counts were not more likely to have a large difference in counts between the two halves. Correlations between different bacteria on whole carcasses were significant for E. coli-APC (0.39), E. coli-coliforms (0.67), and APC-coliforms (0.71), but other combinations had non- significant correlations. The correlation was 0.18 between E. coli and Campylobacter, a relatively fragile organism whose presence can be interpreted to indicate fairly recent fecal contamination. There were no indications that high E. coli counts on inspection-passed, pre-chill carcasses indicate recent fecal contamination.