Gc. Mead et al., A MODEL SYSTEM FOR THE STUDY OF MICROBIAL COLONIZATION IN POULTRY DEFEATHERING MACHINES, Letters in applied microbiology, 20(2), 1995, pp. 134-136
A model system has been developed to simulate key features of the mach
inery environment in which feathers are removed from poultry carcasses
during commercial processing. The model was designed to facilitate st
udy of factors affecting microbial colonization of the machines, inclu
ding environmental temperature, available nutrients and microbial comp
etition. It involves a rapidly rotating rubber 'finger' contained in a
tank in a laboratory incubator, where the 'finger' is sprayed continu
ously with a microbial suspension in a blood-faecal extract medium. At
tachment of cells of Staphylococcus aureus or Staph. sciuri to the rot
ating 'finger' was demonstrated over a 6-h period at 28 degrees C.