Bacteriological Quality of Freshly Processed Broiler Chickens as Affected by Carcass Pretreatment and Gamma Irradiation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Chicken carcasses dipped in whey fermented by Streptococcus thermophilus , lactic acid solution or water and irradiated at 2.5 kGy by 60 Co were evaluated for bacteriological quality on day‐1, day‐3 and at 3‐day intervals for an 18‐day storage (4°C) period. Unirradiated carcasses treated similarly were used as control. Gram negative bacteria, Yersinia and Campylobacter counts were significantly (p<0.01) lower in irradiated samples, but no significant (p>0.05) differences were observed among the dipping solutions. Salmonellae were completely eliminated in irradiated samples. Whey fermented by 5. thermophilus reduced the proportion of Salmonella contaminated carcasses from 67% to 20%. As evidenced by the bacterial counts the shelf‐life was found to be 15 days for irradiated carcasses compared to about 6 days for the unirradiated samples.