Effect of Surfactant or Changes in Ionic Strength on the Attachment of Salmonella typhimurium to Poultry Skin and Muscle

By scanning electron microscopy (SEM) it was shown that fewer bacteria attached firmly to poultry muscle in the presence of NaCl. By conventional cultural techniques, it was also shown that Salmonella typhimurium attached in about the same numbers when chicken skin or muscle was immersed in cell suspensions prepared with 0.85% saline, 0.1% peptone, 0.5M or 0.05M KH 2 PO 4 buffers at pH 5, 7, 8 or saline plus 1% Tween 80. Cells in deep crevices which formed in muscle during water immersion were not visible by SEM until the tissue was shredded, suggesting entrapment of bacteria. Such entrapped bacteria would be inaccessible to treatments that could prevent firm attachment of cells to poultry tissue.