Bacterial Counts Associated with the Chilling of Fryer Chickens

IN ORDER to obtain market poultry of good quality and long shelf-life, the bacterial population on the birds after processing should be as low as possible (Ayres et al., 1950). Good sanitary practices in commercial processing plants have accomplished much toward maintaining high quality during storage. Each step in the dressing and eviscerating operation has been evaluated to determine its effect on the bacterial load (Walker and Ayres, 1956; Drewniak et al., 1954; Gunderson et al., 1954; and May, 1961). With the advent of new processing techniques, bacterial levels may be affected. The objective of this work was to determine the effect of several chilling procedures on the numbers of bacteria on chilled poultry. The experiments were carried out in two poultry processing plants (designated A and B) located in Delaware. In each plant, both standard chill tanks and a commercial continuous chiller were tested. In the standard tank …