Microbiological condition and shelf life of meat from hunted game birds

Abstract

Hunted game birds (eight partridges, nine wood pigeons, 25 quails, 16 chilled and 16 frozen-thawed pheasants) were processed according to "Good Manufacturing Practice" rules. Microflora of skin, intestinal content and meat cuts (breast and thigh, both fresh and stored in vacuum package) was analysed. Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella sp. and Campylobacter sp. were not recovered from any sample. Log microbial numbers on skin or in intestines were not significantly related to those on meat cuts. With the exception of pigeons, microbial numbers of the two meat cuts did not differ significantly (p>0.05), and no significant increase in microbial numbers in vacuum-stored meat was found; the same applied to frozen-thawed compared to chilled pheasants. On meat, average total viable counts were <4.00 log cfu/cm 2 with a maximum of 6.48 log cfu/cm 2 . Median Escherichia coli numbers were <2.00 log cfu/cm 2 , maximum was 4.48 log cfu/cm 2 . Meat cuts obtained from partridges, quails and pheasants demonstrated a shelf life of 1 week, provided they were kept vacuum-packaged at 0°C to 1°C.

Prevalence of Escherichia coli, Salmonella sp. and Campylobacter sp. in the intestinal flora of farm-reared, restocked and wild red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa): is restocking using farm-reared birds a risk?

“…This result is in concordance with previous studies describing low prevalences in healthy wild birds or the absence of Salmonella sp. in game birds and waterfowl (Brittingham et al 1988;El-Ghareeb et al 2009). The only isolate obtained was probably associated to reduced growth and mortality among juvenile red-legged partridges in an aviary.…”

Salmonella in meat from hunted game: A Central European perspective

“…Türck (2008) detected Salmonella in 13 out of 164 hare muscle samples, and reports a tendency for larded meat to have higher prevalences than non-larded cuts (8/85 as opposed to 5/79), which he attributed to extensive manipulation of the former (removal of fasciae, incisions etc.). El-Ghareeb, Smulders, Morshdy, Winkelmayer, and Paulsen (2009), studying the microflora of meat from wild birds (other than waterfowl) processed under GHP conditions, could not recover salmonellae from feathers and muscle tissues of 74 birds of various species (pheasant, quail, pigeon, partridge).…”

A note on meat quality traits of pheasants (Phasianus colchicus)

“…Animals were eviscerated 24 h p.m., and processed as described earlier (El-Ghareeb et al 2009). Weight of dressed carcass (i.e.…”

“…Recent studies have dealt with hygiene and food safety implications of the production of meat from game birds, with respect to "Good Hygiene Practice" (Paulsen et al 2008;El-Ghareeb et al 2009). However, also sensory quality traits have to be considered, because they will substantially influence the consumers attitude to select and buy such meat or products thereof.…”