Immersion of freshly processed poultry carcasses in solutions of poly (hexamethylenebiguanide hydrochloride), PHMB, retarded bacterial growth and markedly improved the shelf-life during storage at 2 C. Birds treated with 200, 300, and 400 ppm PHMB had average shelf-lives of 22.9, 25.9, and 26.0 days, respectively, compared to the 10.5 days of shelf-life for water-treated controls. Duncan's multiple range test revealed that the shelf-life differences among PHMB-treated birds were not statistically significant.