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The objective is to identify Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination levels on broiler carcasses prior to entry and after leaving the chill immersion system.
Approach: Broiler carcasses from each plant will be sampled according to a previously determined method. The carcass rinse samples will be divided into two separate aliquots. One aliquot will be further processed for Salmonella culture and enumeration by Dr. Bailey. The other aliquot will be shipped by overnight carrier to Dr. Allen Byrd, for Campylobacter culture and enumeration. Due to the laboratory constraints, 50 pre-chill and 50 post-chill samples will be collected in one visit to a processing plant. Eight trips to each of the two plants will be made to collect a total of 800 carcass rinse samples (400 pre-chill and 400 post-chill) from each of the plants. As the broiler carcasses move through the chill tank, the conditions will be monitored for pH, chlorine, turbidity, water flow rate, and temperature levels. Assessing pathogen prevalence in pre-chill carcass rinse samples and the strength of association between post-chill prevalence and other parameters such as pre-chill pathogen levels, pH, chlorine, turbidity, water flow rate, and temperature were considered when estimating the required sample size.