Microbiological Comparison of Inspection-Passed and Reprocessed Broiler Carcasses

Canadian regulations require that chicken carcasses with visible post-evisceration internal contamination be removed from the process line. Such carcasses are condemned after unaffected parts are salvaged by hot-boning. The present study was performed in order to provide data in regards to the microbiological safety of reprocessed broiler carcasses. Contaminated carcasses were reprocessed manually off-line and in a vent-down position by an immediate 5-sec inside/outside (I/O) spray wash followed by vacuuming and 1 15-sec I/O spray wash. Average colony forming units (log10/mL) for inspection-passed and reprocessed carcasses included: standard plate count (SPC), 3.99 and 3.55; coliforms, 3.49 and 3.07; Escherichia coli, 3.34 and 2.96; and Staphylococcus, 2.42 and 1.53; respectively. The detection frequencies for Salmonella and Campylobacter were 4 and 5% and 84 and 74%, respectively.