The Incidence of Salmonella Species and Serotypes in Young Whole Chicken Carcasses in 1979 as Compared with 1967

A survey was conducted to determine the incidence of salmonellae in processed, ready-to-market, whole young chickens. Carcasses from 15 federally inspected chickens eviscerating plants were analyzed using a carcass washing technique for determining the presence of salmonellae. The results obtained during the 1979 incidence survey were compared to results obtained in an identical 1967 Salmonella survey. In the 1967 study, salmonellae were isolated from 171 ot the 597 (28.6%) whole chickens tetrathionate broth rinsings analysed. In the 1979 study, 222 of 601 (36.9%) of similarly analysed chicken samples were positive. Percentile positive findings from individual plants range from 7.5 to 73.7% in 1967 and from 2.5 to 87.5% in 1979.