The bacteriological condition of eviscerated chickens processed under controlled conditions in a spin‐chilling system and sampled by two different methods

Abstract

Quantitative changes have been determined in the flora of chicken carcasses after passage through a series of three separate spin‐chillers. The majority of organisms were eliminated from the chill‐water during processing by using 1.7 1 of water per carcass and 45 to 50 ppm of total residual chlorine in the first two chillers and 1.0 1 of water per carcass and 25 to 30 ppm of residual chlorine in the third chiller. Total viable counts at 20 and 37 °C and levels of coli‐aerogenes bacteria obtained from the rinsing of whole carcasses were reduced by more than 90% during chilling. Results obtained both with and without the use of chlorination compared favourably with those claimed for other chilling systems. It was concluded that the main effect of chlorination in the chillers was to destroy organisms washed from the carcasses, thus avoiding recontamination. A comparison of two different sampling methods showed that maceration of neck‐skin usually gave higher counts of both faecal and spoilage bacteria after chilling than the rinsing of whole carcasses.