Destruction of microorganisms on chicken carcasses by steam and boiling water immersion

A thermal destruction end point of < 10 aerobic microbes per cm(2) was achieved on broiler chicken carcass skin by boiling water (95degreesC) immersion or flowing steam (96-98degreesC at 3 min, beyond which increasing exposure time up to 8 min did not further decrease estimated aerobic plate count (EAPC). Cross-contamination of deboned Subcutaneous meat was not significantly (P > 0.05) affected by exposure time of whole carcasses to boiling water or flowing steam. EAPC of deboned Subcutaneous meat was positively correlated (P < 0.05) with EAPC of carcass skin heat treated with boiling water (R-2 = 0.751) and flowing steam (R-2 = 0.857). These processing intervention procedures would provide whole poultry carcasses for commercial further processing that would not be a source of cross-contamination of further processed, value-added poultry meat products and would enhance the food safety of these products. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.