Factors Affecting the Persistence of Salmonella During the Processing of Poultry

Abstract

Bacteria, including Salmonella, have been shown to attach firmly to poultry skin and meat. Neither fimbriae, flagella, nor electrostatic attraction seem to play a significant role in the mechanism of attachment. Bacterial cells (95%) were shown to be initially entrapped in a water film on the skin, then to migrate to the skin with prolonged immersion in a bacterial cell suspension. Using electron microscopy it was shown that bacteria appear to be entrapped in ridges and crevices which become more pronounced in the skin and muscle following water immersion. This may make bacteria on carcasses inaccessible to bactericides. It was shown that bacteria are firmly attached to poultry skin before broilers arrive at the plant and that high numbers are still recovered after 40 consecutive whole carcass rinses of a single carcass. It was further shown that Salmonella are not always recovered in the first whole carcass rinse and that this method of sampling could result in false negative reports for Salmonella incidence.

General Interest Scientific and Teechnical Factors Affecting the Setting of Salmonella Criteria for Raw Poultry: A Global Perspective

“…However, since large numbers of carcasses share a common waterbath, there are ample opportunities for cross-contamination to occur. Water chilling is considered a major site for flock-to-flock transmission of Salmonella (102,117,155) and when Salmonella-positive flocks are processed, the prevalence of contaminated carcasses increases unless the water is super-chlorinated (32, 102,103,116,135).…”

“…Nevertheless, even when added at a level of 50 mg / l, chlorine has little direct effect on carcass contamination, because of the rapid rate of inactivation, and its effect on Salmonella prevalence appears to be mainly due to disinfection of the chill water (116). To keep the water free from viable vegetative bacteria, it has been found necessary to maintain a total chlorine residual of 45 -50 mg / l (131).…”

Oeufs, volailles et Salmonella enteritidis

“…Il pourrait s'agir de germes fermement ancrés dans les anfrac tuosités de la peau et de ce fait inaccessibles aux agents bactéricides. Cette hypothèse est étayée par une expérimentation [20] qui montre qu'après 40 rinçages successifs de la carcasse on dénombre toujours des micro-organismes. U'une façon générale les bactéricides utilisés dans l'eau de rinçage réduisent à des taux non détectables les Salmonelles dans l'eau mais ne les éliminent pas de la carcasse.…”

Evaluation of Disinfectants Used in Pre-Chilling water Tanks of Poultry Processing Plants

“…One infected broiler arriving at the processing plant may be the source of contamination of many other carcasses (Lillard, 1989;Rasschaert et al, 2008). Some microorganisms present in the broiler intestine, such as Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., and thermotolerant coliforms, represent a threat to public health (Scallan et al, 2011).…”