Mathematical modeling of the effect of growth stimulants (antibiotics and hormones) on the quality and safety of poultry meat

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of thermal processing conditions on the physicochemical properties, microbial load, and concentrations of residual veterinary drugs and steroid hormones in poultry meat using regression-based response surface analysis. Two thermal processing methods, vacuum-packed water-bath heating and microwave heating, were investigated. Nine combined processing regimes were evaluated for each method, with three technical replicate measurements per regime. Second-order regression models were developed to describe changes in protein, lipid, and moisture contents, microbial counts, and concentrations of tetracycline, chloramphenicol, testosterone, and 17β-estradiol. The experimental design did not constitute a central composite design, and processing time and temperature were not varied independently. The results demonstrated that increasing treatment severity was associated with decreases in protein, lipid, and moisture contents. Microbial counts decreased from 5.23 × 10⁴ to 1.03 × 10⁴ CFU/g during water-bath heating and from 5.82 × 10⁴ to 2.57 × 10³ CFU/g during microwave heating, indicating substantial microbial reduction without complete inactivation. Thermal processing was associated with reductions in tetracycline concentrations of approximately 53–55% and chloramphenicol concentrations of approximately 48–50%. Testosterone concentrations decreased by approximately 36–40%, while 17β-estradiol concentrations decreased by approximately 55–59%. The fitted regression models described the observed response patterns across the investigated processing regimes; however, the independent effects of temperature and processing time could not be established. The results indicate that thermal processing can reduce microbial contamination and measured chemical residue concentrations while simultaneously affecting the physicochemical composition of poultry meat. Further validation using independently varied processing factors and independent experimental batches is required before establishing optimised processing conditions.