Effect of water immersion on the microtopography of the skin of chicken carcasses

Abstract

Abstract Water‐immersion cleaning and chilling of poultry carcasses caused the skin to swell and exposed deep channels and crevices in the skin surface as a result of water uptake. These changes were demonstrated by electron microscopy and were shown to be dependent on the time of immersion and the temperature of the water. Addition of sodium chloride to the immersion medium and manipulation of the medium pH did not markedly affect or prevent these changes. The implications of these changes for microbial contamination during water‐immersion chilling are discussed.