The objective of this study was to develop predictive models for describing the inoculated Salmonella reductions on chicken during the scalding process in China. Salmonella reductions on chicken breasts at a 100 s treatment were 1.12 ± 0.07, 1.38 ± 0.01, and 2.17 ± 0.11 log CFU/g at scalding temperatures of 50, 60 and 70 °C, respectively. For chicken wingettes, 0.87 ± 0.02, 0.99 ± 0.14 and 1.11 ± 0.17 log CFU/g reductions were obtained at 50, 60 and 70 °C after the 100 s treatment, respectively. Greater bacterial reductions were observed on chicken breasts than on chicken wingettes (p < 0.05). A logistic (-1.12, 0.06) distribution could describe the bacterial reductions on chicken breasts at 50-60 °C. Weibull, exponential and log-linear models were compared for describing the bacterial reduction on chicken breasts at 70 °C and the Weibull model showed the best fit as indicated by the pseudo-R2, root mean square error (RMSE) and standard error of prediction (SEP) values. For chicken wingettes, a logistic (-0.95, 0.07) distribution could be used to describe the bacterial reduction at 50-70 °C. The developed predictive models could provide parts of the input data for microbial risk assessment of the poultry supply chain in China.
Keywords: Salmonella reduction; Weibull model; poultry scalding; probability distribution.