Inactivation of Salmonella in Poultry with Gamma Radiation ,

INTRODUCTION SALMONELLOSIS has been on the increase in this country within the past decade, and it is well established that there is a high rate of contamination of poultry with Salmonella (Galton et al., 1955; Sadler et al., 1961; Wilson et al., 1961). It has been demonstrated that the shelf life of poultry at refrigerator temperatures above freezing can be extended by treatment with ionizing radiation (Proctor et al., 1956; McGill et al., 1959; Coleby et al., 1960). It is expected that this treatment would also inactivate salmonellae present on the poultry but to what extent cannot be predicted since it is well established that various conditions of the environment during and after irradiation influence the radiation sensitivity of bacteria. The purpose of this investigation was to study the effect of various environmental factors on the radiation inactivation of Salmonella in poultry so that for any particular irradiation process for…