Microbiological Quality of Organic Chicken Meat

Abstract

Organic chicken production in the world increases every year according to the consumer demands. Therefore, a higher awareness of the microbial quality of organic poultry meat is of importance for public health, food safety and product shelf life. In this study was used 240 of frozen organic chicken meat, drumstick (n:80), breast (n: 80) and leg quarter (n: 80) as the material. Microbiological analyses were conducted to determine the total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TMAB), the total psychotropic aerobic bacteria (TPAB), Pseudomonas spp., coliforms, E. coli , mold, and yeast counts in all samples. It was determined that 100%, 100%, 100%, 81.6%, 54.1%, 34.1%, and 83.3% of the analyzed samples (n:240) were contaminated with TMAB, TPAB, Pseudomonas spp., coliforms, E. coli , mold and yeasts, respectively. Moreover, the mean counts of TMAB was 4.99±0.80 log 10 cfu/g, the TPAB was 5.29±0.96 log 10 cfu/g, the coliforms were 3.53 ± 0.92 log 10 cfu/g, E. coli was 2.45±0.65 log 10 cfu/g, Pseudomonas spp. was 4.63±1.10 log 10 cfu/g, the mold count was 2.03±0.42 log 10 cfu/g and yeast count was 3.68±1.13 log 10 cfu/g. These results indicate that organic chicken meat can be contaminated with various microorganisms that affect the shelf life and hygienic quality.