Microbiological quality of broiler carcasses during slaughter processing

Svobodová, Irena; Bořilová, Gabriela; Hulánková, Radka; Steinhauserová, Iva

doi:10.2754/avb201281010037

Acta Veterinaria > Archive > 2012, Vol. 81 > Issue 1 > Microbiological quality of broiler…

Acta Vet. Brno 2012, 81: 37-42

https://doi.org/10.2754/avb201281010037

Microbiological quality of broiler carcasses during slaughter processing

Irena Svobodová¹, Gabriela Bořilová¹, Radka Hulánková¹, Iva Steinhauserová²

¹Department of Meat Hygiene and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Czech Republic
²CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Czech Republic

Microbial contamination of poultry carcasses can be influenced by many factors during transport and slaughtering. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of four processing steps (plucking, evisceration, washing and chilling) on the total viable counts (TVC), counts of Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Listeria spp. incidence on broiler carcasses. A total of 160 broiler carcasses originating from one farm were collected during one year period at a Czech slaughterhouse and examined. Both TVC and E. coli counts decreased during processing from 4.6 log cfu/cm² and 3.5 log cfu/cm² to 3.7 log cfu/cm² and 1.8 log cfu/cm², respectively, with a major impact of washing on TVC and washing and chilling on E. coli decrease (P < 0.001). Both Salmonella spp. (6 strains) and Listeria spp. (12 strains, none of L. monocytogenes) were found sporadically in all processing steps followed. However, a decreasing trend was observed in Salmonella counts and Listeria spp. incidence during the processing. Thus, this study brings new valuable information on the dynamics of microflora during modern poultry processing.