ARS | Publication request: Impact of Added Sand on the Recovery of Salmonella, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli, and Coliforms from Pre-Chill and Post-Chill Broiler Carcass Halves

Submitted to: International Poultry Forum Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: October 15, 2007
Publication Date: July 20, 2008
Citation: Hannah, J.F., Fletcher, D.L., Cox Jr, N.A., Smith, D.P., Cason Jr, J.A., Northcutt, J.K., Buhr, R.J., Richardson, L.J. 2008. Impact of Added Sand on the Recovery of Salmonella, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli, and Coliforms from Pre-Chill and Post-Chill Broiler Carcass Halves. International Poultry Forum Proceedings. 87(S1):167-168.

Technical Abstract: A study was conducted to evaluate the use of sand to a rinse for bacterial enumeration and determining the incidence of pathogens from broiler carcasses. During each of 4 replications, 6 pre-chill and 6 post-chill broiler carcasses were collected from a commercial processing plant. All carcasses were split along the midline. One carcass half of each carcass pair was rinsed in 200 mL of 2% buffered peptone, while the companion half was rinsed in 2% buffered peptone with 50 g of sterile sand added. All carcasses were rinsed for 1 min with a mechanical shaker. Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Escherichia coli were enumerated from rinsates and the prevalence of Salmonella and Campylobacter was determined. Salmonella and Campylobacter were isolated from 17% and 50% of the carcass halves, respectively. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference in Salmonella or Campylobacter incidence between the two treatments. Addition of sand had no effect on the number of Salmonella recovered from half carcasses, but did improve the recovery of Campylobacter from pre-chill carcasses by 2.1 log10 cfu/mL. Coliform and E. coli numbers obtained from peptone treatment were not significantly different than those recovered from peptone with added sand treatment. These results show that incorporating sand into the carcass rinse did not improve bacterial recovery from the processed broiler carcass.