Comparison of peroxyacetic acid and acidified sodium chlorite at reducing natural microbial contamination on chicken meat pieces

Andrea R McWhorter; Gayani Weerasooriya; Shruti Kumar; Kapil K Chousalkar

doi:10.1016/j.psj.2023.103009

Comparison of peroxyacetic acid and acidified sodium chlorite at reducing natural microbial contamination on chicken meat pieces

Poult Sci. 2023 Nov;102(11):103009. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2023.103009. Epub 2023 Aug 9.

Authors

Andrea R McWhorter¹, Gayani Weerasooriya¹, Shruti Kumar¹, Kapil K Chousalkar²

Affiliations

¹ School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy, South Australia 5371, Australia.
² School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy, South Australia 5371, Australia. Electronic address: kapil.chousalkar@adelaide.edu.au.

Abstract

The spin-chill process at poultry processing plants involves the immersion of chicken carcasses in cold water (<5°C) often containing sodium hypochlorite which significantly contributes to the reduction of bacterial loads. Cutting carcasses into pieces, however, has been linked with increases in Campylobacter and Salmonella counts. Here, the efficacy of PAA and ASC on reducing bacteria on skin-on, bone-in thigh cuts was investigated. Three concentrations of ASC (60, 112, and 225 ppm) and PAA (50, 75, 100 ppm) were used. Thighs were dipped into sanitizer and tested for total viable bacterial counts, Campylobacter load, and prevalence of Salmonella. The efficacy of PAA and ASC was also compared with chlorine (8 ppm). All sanitizers exhibited a greater log reduction compared with water. PAA at both 75 and 100 ppm resulted in significantly higher log reductions compared with the water only. PAA at 100 ppm and 225 ppm ASC were the most effective at reducing Campylobacter. All wash treatments reduced the proportion of Salmonella positive samples, but the greatest reduction was observed for 225 ppm ASC. Both concentrations of ASC resulted in a greater reduction in total viable counts compared with chlorine.

Keywords: Campylobacter; Salmonella; acidified sodium chlorite; chicken meat; peroxyacetic acid.