PoultryFARM - Highlights

 

Data Acquisition for Predictive Model Development for Salmonella and Chicken Meat
A long-term goal of our research has been to develop models with a low and ecological level of the pathogen in poultry meat and meat products with native microorganisms. In recent times we have achieved this goal by developing a method to count low to high levels of Salmonella in chicken meat with other microorganisms. The method uses small portions of chicken meat and a miniature most probable number (MPN) assay that is in a 96-well format. The mini-MPN assay involves pre-enrichment in buffered peptone water followed by selective enrichment in Rappaport-Vassiliadis broth followed by selective drop plating on XLT4 agar. All steps in the mini-MPN assay are performed by a robotic pipettor that saves us a lot of time.

Data Acquisition for Salmonella Contamination and Cross-contamination of Chicken
A protocol was developed to detect, quantify, isolate, and identify Salmonella that contaminate and cross-contaminate boneless and bone-in chicken parts.  The method involves using a sterilized knife and cutting board to partition a whole raw broiler chicken into eight parts and then partition a sterilized, cooked chicken breast into two parts to assess cross-contamination.  The chicken parts are incubated for 8 h at 80 rpm in 400 ml of buffered peptone water.  Samples are then collected for real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and cultural isolation of Salmonella.  A standard curve relating cycle threshold values to initial level of Salmonella on chicken parts is used for enumeration.