Microbiological Quality of Refrigerated Chicken Gizzards from Different Sources as Related to Their Shelf-Lives

Abstract

Chicken gizzards were purchased from three retail stores and one processing plant. Studies were conducted to compare swab and rinse methods for microbial analysis of gizzards. The total, mold and yeast, coliform most probable number, staphylococcus 110 medium counts, and shelf-lives of gizzards from each store were enumerated and compared. The possible extension of shelf-life of raw gizzards by frozen processing during distribution was investigated.Ready-to-cook gizzards had an average weight of 26.39 g with standard deviation of 6.14 g. Variation in gizzard sizes had no significant effect (P<.05) on their microbial counts obtained by the rinse method. Mean log total counts of gizzard varied greatly among three stores; they were 3.55, 4.36, 5.01/g. Mean log coliform MPN were 1.63, 1.59, and 1.89/g and mean log staphyloccus 110 medium counts were 2.15, 2.20, and 2.51/g, accordingly.A similar spoilage pattern was observed for the prefrozen and non-frozen gizzards. The shelf-lives of gizzards from three retail stores ranged from 2.41 to 3.92 days. Higher initial counts resulted in shorter shelf-life. Freezing of the products during transportation extended their shel-flives in retail stores for approximately 4 days.