DESTRUCTION OF SALMONELLA IN POULTRY CHILLER WATER USING ELECTRICAL-STIMULATION

Electrical current in combination with a salt was evaluated as a metho d to destroy Salmonella typhimurium in poultry chiller water. Chiller water from a poultry processing plant was mixed with a salt, sodium ch loride (NaCl), sodium nitrate (NaNO3), sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) or tr isodium phosphate (Na3PO4), inoculated with S. typhimurium at 1 X 10(4 ) CFU/mL, and then treated at 4-degrees-C for 60 min using pulsed elec trical signals at 10 mA/cm2 current, 1 kHz frequency, and 50% duty cyc le. Samples taken at different time intervals were serially diluted, p lated on xylose lysine desoxycholate (XLD) agar, and incubated at 37-d egrees-C for 18 to 24 h before the colony forming units (CFU) were cou nted. To detect injured cells, samples were pre-enriched in buffered p eptone water at 37-degrees-C for 4 to 5 h and then were plated The res ults showed that the bacterial death rate, the decimal reduction time or the time required to destroy 90% of S. typhimurium in chiller water , was 2.7 to 3.1 min with 0.15 M NaCl or 0.015 M Na3PO4, 4.7 min with 0.015 M NaCl, and 9.3 to 10.4 min with 0.15 and 0.015 M NaNO3 or 0.015 M Na2CO3. The bacterial death time of S. typhimurium in the treatment s with NaCl decreased as salt concentration or electrical current incr eased.