Abstract
Handling and consumption of Campylobacter-contaminated poultry meat is the most common cause of human campylobacteriosis. While many studies deal with interventions to reduce Campylobacter spp. on chicken carcasses, studies on other poultry species are rare. In the present study, a spray treatment with peracetic acid (PAA) on turkey carcasses was evaluated. For this, parts of breast fillets with skin and Campylobacter (C.) jejuni DSM 4688 (108 cfu/ml) inoculated drumsticks were sprayed for 30 s with PAA (1200 ppm) or water as control solution. Samples were packaged under modified atmosphere and stored at 4°C until analysis on day 1, 6 and 12. The breast fillets were used for determination of the total viable count, sensory and meat quality examination as well as myoglobin content and biogenic amines. The drumsticks were used for C. jejuni counts. PAA had a significant effect in reducing total viable counts on all days by up to 1.2 log10 compared to the untreated control. Treatment with water alone showed no effect. C. jejuni counts were significantly reduced by PAA (0.9–1.3 log10), while water achieved a 0.5 log10 reduction on C. jejuni counts on day 1. No differences in sensory, pH, electrical conductivity and myoglobin content could be found. The skin of the PAA treated fillets had lower redness values than the water control on day 1, whereas on day 12 parts of the water treated muscles were lighter than the untreated control. A lower putrescine content of the water sprayed fillets in comparison to the control sample on day 12 was the only significant difference concerning the biogenic amines. Results from this study indicate that a spray treatment with 1200 ppm PAA would be a useful measure to lower the Campylobacter spp. counts on turkey carcasses without having a negative influence on product quality.
Highlights
Campylobacteriosis remains the most often reported bacterial foodborne disease in the EU [1]
The inoculated drumsticks were used for quantification of Campylobacter spp., the breast fillets for analysis of total viable counts (TVC), sensory and meat quality parameters, myoglobin redox form percentages and biogenic amines
When comparing the two latter studies and our study the results indicate that a higher concentration of peracetic acid (PAA) is necessary to effectively reduce Campylobacter spp. loads on poultry carcasses with a spraying treatment
Summary
Campylobacteriosis remains the most often reported bacterial foodborne disease in the EU [1]. A spray treatment with peracetic acid (PAA) may be an option to reduce the Campylobacter spp. load on turkey carcasses and to achieve a lower microbial concentration on the meat in general. While several studies about organic acids on chicken meat have been published, no studies about other poultry species like turkey, duck and goose could be found, which assessed the effects of a treatment with PAA on Campylobacter spp. counts and meat quality. Because spraying does not seem to be as effective as dipping, but is the favored application method [15], we chose a relatively high concentration of 1200 ppm PAA This proved to be the most effective concentration against C. jejuni and the TVC on chicken skin in an earlier study [16]
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