| Abstract: | The performance of the surface pasteurization process to reduce the bacteria levels on the surface of chicken was tested on carcasses received from federally inspected commercial processing plants. These tests were made with carcasses that had been chilled and shipped overnight with ice packs. The tests and follow‐up experiments showed the visceral cavity was not treated as effectively as the outside. A second series of tests with chicken halves which eliminated the difficulty with the cavity, produced significant kills in E. coli, coliform, and total aerobic plate counts. Further research with chicken purchased at the supermarket established optimum process conditions as initial vacuum of 0.1 s, steam at 138C for 0.1 s, and final vacuum of 0.5 s. At these conditions, for half carcasses, bacteria kills for E. coli, coliforms, and APC generally ranged from approximately 0.5 to 1.0 log cfu/mL. The process is being modified to assure adequate treatment of the cavity |
