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Title: ABILITY OF OLEIC ACID TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF BACTERIA FOUND ON POULTRY SKIN AND IN RINSATES OF POULTRY SKIN

Author
item Hinton Jr, Arthur
item Ingram, Kimberly

Submitted to: International Association of Milk Food and Environmental Sanitarians
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/7/2000
Publication Date: 8/6/2000
Citation: HINTON JR, A., INGRAM, K.D. ABILITY OF OLEIC ACID TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF BACTERIA FOUND ON POULTRY SKIN AND IN RINSATES OF POULTRY SKIN. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MILK FOOD AND ENVIRONMENTAL SANITARIANS. 2000.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Salts of fatty acids are surfactants whose cleansing activity may reduce the number of microorganisms on surfaces. The purpose of this study was to determine if washing poultry skin in a potassium salt of oleic acid would reduce the number of bacteria on the skin and in rinsates of the skin. Skin from carcasses of processed broilers was washed twice in solutions of 0 (controls), 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 percent oleic acid, then rinsed in peptone water by blending the skin in the solutions in a stomacher. The final rinsates were decanted, and bacteria in the rinsates were enumerated. Fewer campylobacter and enterococci were recovered from rinsates of skin washed in 2% oleic acid; fewer total aerobes were recovered from skin washed in 6% oleic acid; and fewer Enterobacteriaceae were recovered from skin washed in 10% oleic acid than from the controls. The bacterial flora on skin subjected to 2 consecutive washes in 10 percent oleic acid and a rinse in peptone water were also compared to the flora of untreated skin samples and skin subjected to 3 rinses in peptone water. After the treated samples were rinsed, all samples were blended in a Waring blender with peptone water, and the suspensions were subjected to microbial analysis. Fewer total aerobes, Enterobacteriaceae, campylobacter, and enterococci were recovered from skin samples washed in oleic acid than from untreated skin samples or from skin rinsed in peptone water. Findings indicate that washing poultry skin in oleic acid significantly reduces the bacterial population of the skin and rinsates of the skin. The reduction of the skin's microflora is due primarily to the bactericidal activity of the fatty acid.