THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE MISHANDLING AT VARIOUS TIMES DURING STORAGEON DETECTION OF TEMPERATURE ABUSE OF FRESH BROILER CHICKEN CARCASSES

Experiments were conducted to determine the effect that temperature mi shandling at various times during storage has on detection of temperat ure abuse of fresh broiler chicken carcasses using populations of meso philic and coliform bacteria as indicators of abuse. Forty-five broile r carcasses were used in each of three independent trials. Five carcas ses were analyzed at day of collection (Treatment 0 control). Five car casses, on each day of the next 7 d (Treatments 1 to 7) were temperatu re-abused for 12 h at 25 C, stored at 3 C until Day 9, and then sample d. The five remaining carcasses were stored at 3 C and sampled on Day 9 (Treatment 8 control). Carcasses were sampled using a whole carcass rinse procedure and assayed for aerobic plate counts (APC), total coli form counts (TCC), impedance detection times (DT), and impedance colif orm detection times (DTCM). Although significant differences were note d using all four microbiological methods, temperature abuse at differe nt times during storage had no consistent effect on populations of mes ophilic or coliform bacteria; therefore, temperature abuse determinati ons may be conducted without regard to the day on which the carcasses were subjected to elevated temperatures.