BACTERIAL-POPULATIONS OF DIFFERENT SAMPLE TYPES FROM CARCASSES IN THEDIRTY AREA OF A SOUTH-AFRICAN POULTRY ABATTOIR

Bacterial populations associated with three different sample types fro m carcasses in the dirty area of a South African poultry abattoir were compared. The three sample types from carcasses before and after scal ding included neck skin only, feathers only, and a neck skin and feath er combination. The neck skin of carcasses after defeathering was also sampled. Aerobic plate counts, Enterobacteriaceae counts, and Pseudom onas spp. counts were performed on all sample types, as well as on wat er, air, and equipment samples from the same area. The prevalence of p otential pathogens was also investigated. Neck skins sampled before an d after scalding consistently exhibited the lowest counts for all bact erial types, and feathers the highest. In most cases, the bacterial nu mbers of the neck skin samples from pre- and postscalded carcasses wer e significantly lower (P < 0.05) than those of feather samples and nec k skin and feather combination samples. Scalding of carcasses resulted in a consistent decrease of bacterial populations, reflected by all t hree sample types. Neck skins sampled after defeathering, however, exh ibited increased bacterial numbers compared to neck skins sampled post scalding, implicating the rubber fingers of the defeathering machine a s contamination sources. These equipment surfaces exhibited aerobic pl ate counts as high as 7.7 log CFU/cm(2). Potential pathogens were isol ated from product as well as selected environmental samples. The preva lence of the potential pathogens was found to vary depending on the sa mple type.