BACTERIAL-CONTAMINATION OF BROILER-CHICKENS BEFORE SCALDING

The bacterial load on the feathers (breast, thigh, and drum), skin (br east, thigh, and drum), and feet of a total of 40 broiler chickens fro m four different production units was characterized after the chickens were exsanguinated but before the carcasses were scalded. Each broile r carcass contained a mean of aerobic bacteria at or near 8 log(10)/g, a level at which the carcasses would be considered spoiled. Escherich ia coli counts ranged from 6.3 to 8.0 log(10)/g, with the highest pres ence on the feathers and breast skin and lower levels on the thigh and drum skin, and feet. Contamination of the carcasses followed a simila r pattern for Salmonella spp., which ranged between 5.8 and 7.2 log(10 )/g, and Campylobacter jejuni/coli which ranged between 6.1 and 7.5 lo g(10)/g. The incidence of potential pathogens was higher on the feathe rs, breast skin, and feet than on the thigh and drum skin. The inciden ce of E. coli ranged from 42.5 to 100%, Salmonella spp. ranged from 27 .5 to 75%, and C. jejuni/coli ranged from 45 to 82.5%. The mean counts of microorganisms on broilers from the four different grow-out farms were significantly different (P > 0.05) from one another immediately a fter kilting, although the magnitude of the differences was small in m ost cases. The means ranged from 7.3 to 8.0 log(10)/g for total colony -forming units (CFU), 6.7 to 7.6 log(10)/g for E. coli, 5.4 to 6.9 for Salmonella spp., and 5.7 to 7.9 for C. jejuni/coli. All birds were co ntaminated with E. coli, 60 to 100% with Salmonella spp., and 80 to 10 0% with C. jejuni/coli, depending on grow-out farm. C. jejuni/coli cou nts and incidences were higher than those of Salmonella spp., and usua lly lower than those of E. coli. This research demonstrates that broil ers entering the processing plant are highly contaminated. Although pr ocessing seems to decrease the number and incidence of microorganisms on the carcasses, additional modifications in production, transportati on, and processing are warranted to reduce the microbial population on the birds before they are slaughtered.