Treatment of fresh poultry carcases with emulsions of glycerol monocaprate (monocaprin) to reduce contamination withCampylobacterand psychrotrophic bacteria

Abstract

1. A previous study has shown that emulsions of monocaprin in citrate lactate buffer at pH 4·1-4·3 are highly active in killing Campylobacter in water, where they reduce viable bacterial counts by more than 6 log(10) colony forming units (cfu) in 1 min at a concentration of 1·25 mM (0·03%). 2. The present study was carried out to evaluate whether monocaprin emulsions could be used to kill Campylobacter on raw poultry. 3. It was shown that immersion of naturally contaminated chicken legs in 20 mM (0·5%) monocaprin emulsion at pH 4·1 for 1 min at 20°C reduced the number of Campylobacter by 2·0 to 2·7 log(10) cfu. Pre-chill dipping of whole carcases into 20 mM monocaprin emulsion in the slaughterhouse also caused a significant reduction in Campylobacter contamination. 4. Immersion in monocaprin emulsions at pH 4·1 was also assessed as a means to reduce the number of psychrotrophic spoilage bacteria. There were lower psychrotrophic bacteria counts on treated chicken parts than on untreated controls after storage at 3°C for up to 14 d. 5. Immersion in emulsions of monocaprin, which is a natural lipid classified as GRAS, may be a feasible method to reduce the number of Campylobacter and spoilage bacteria on raw poultry. This method could reduce the risk of human exposure to Campylobacter, and at the same time increase the shelf-life of poultry products.

Eugenol as an antimicrobial wash treatment reduces Campylobacter jejuni in postharvest poultry

“…Antimicrobial wash treatment studies using conventional chemicals have been extensively investigated in poultry (Bauermeister et al, ; Birk et al, ; Kim, Park, Lee, Owens, & Ricke, ; Riedel et al, ; Thormar et al, ; Zhao & Doyle, ). Currently, PAA (1,000 ppm) and chlorine (50 ppm) are the chemicals commonly used for the decontamination of poultry carcass during processing (USDA FSIS, ), however, the aforementioned chemicals results in minimal reduction of C. jejuni (Bauermeister et al, ; Nagel, Bauermeister, Bratcher, Singh, & McKee, ).…”

“…In this study, we used chicken skin as a model to represent carcass surface. Previously, a similar skin model has been used to test the efficacy of antimicrobials for use in poultry processing (Goode, Allen, & Barrow, 2003 Antimicrobial wash treatment studies using conventional chemicals have been extensively investigated in poultry (Bauermeister et al, 2008;Birk et al, 2010;Kim, Park, Lee, Owens, & Ricke, 2017;Riedel et al, 2009;Thormar et al, 2011;Zhao & Doyle, 2006). Currently, PAA…”

Alternative antimicrobials: the properties of fatty acids and monoglycerides

“…Despite this, some Gramnegative bacterial species are susceptible. Neisseria (Miller et al 1977;Knapp and Melly 1986;Bergsson et al 1999;Churchward et al 2017), Haemophilus (Knapp and Melly 1986;Isaacs et al 1995;, Moraxella (Knapp and Melly 1986), Chlamydia (Bergsson et al 1998), Helicobacter (Petschow et al 1996;Bergsson et al 2002;Sun et al 2003;Sun et al 2007;Roberton et al 2008), and Campylobacter (Hilmarsson et al 2006;Hermans et al 2010;Thormar et al 2010;Thormar et al 2011) are the only Gram-negative species shown to be susceptible to fatty acids and monoglycerides. Neisseria and Haemophilus species are each susceptible to a range of fatty acids and monoglycerides and unlike the intrinsically resistant Enterobacteriaceae, have different LPS structures that may account for this susceptibility.…”

“…Fatty acids and monoglycerides could also be used in the future to aid in the prevention of foodborne campylobacteriosis, food poisoning caused by Campylobacter bacteria. By adding monocaprin to feed and water of broiler chickens, the bacterial load in these birds may be reduced (Hilmarsson et al 2006) and thereafter the poultry carcases could be washed with monocaprin (Thormar et al 2011), as could the chopping boards and surfaces used to handle the meat (Thormar and Hilmarsson 2010). The later of these two suggestions may offer the greatest potential, as the addition of monocaprin to feed and water produced variable results and it has been shown that intestinal mucus may inhibit medium chain fatty acids and monoglycerides such as monocaprin (Hermans et al 2010).…”

Advances in Enteropathogen Control Throughout the Meat Chicken Production Chain

“…The use of a post-evisceration hot water spray (71°C) rather than unheated water may reduce Salmonella prevalence on carcasses, but had no significant effect on Campylobacter and resulted in a partially cooked appearance [396]. Post-evisceration immersion in water containing a glycerol monocaprate emulsion consistently reduced Campylobacter on carcasses by up to 1.9 log10 CFU/100g relative to untreated carcasses [408]. Immersion of postevisceration carcasses in trisodium phosphate significantly reduced Salmonella prevalence relative to tap water treatment, but brushing of the carcass had no significant additional effect [395].…”