Salmonella contamination in a commercial poultry (broiler) processing operation.

Abstract The results of these studies indicate that the number of broiler chickens entering a processing plant that harbor Salmonella is generally low. In the processing operation, mechanical spread of the Salmonella organisms apparently readily occurs so that as much as 90% of the dressed product is contaminated with Salmonella organisms. A limited number of carcasses from the same processing plant but examined at the retail level were all found to be contaminated with Salmonella. The use of chlorine dioxide (ClO2) at levels of less than 8 p.p.m. in the processing plant chill water did not reduce the levels of Salmonella or the number of bacteria on the surface of processed chicken carcasses. Similarly, laboratory studies utilizing chicken skins revealed no effect by ClO2 on the test organism, S. typhimurium.