The effects of lactic acid-based spray washing on bacterial profile and quality of chicken carcasses

Abstract

Chicken products with high water and nutrient contents provide essential nutrients for microbial growth. This study was designed to determine the effect of lactic acid-based spray washing. First, the reduction of microbial counts on chicken carcasses was evaluated through lactic acid-based spray washing. Second, bacterial diversity on chicken carcasses in different steps in a chicken-slaughtering chain was investigated through polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). The effect of spray washing on quick-frozen chicken quality was also examined. Results revealed that microbial counts decreased significantly after the chickens were spray-washed with 1.5% lactic acid at 50 °C for 15s. PCR-DGGE revealed a decrease in microbial counts of several bacterial species, such as uncultured bacterium, uncultured Clostridiales sp., Pseudomonas fluorescens, Ruminococcus sp., and uncultured Ruminococcus sp. The spray washing performed did not remarkably affect the pH and total volatile basic nitrogen of quick-frozen chicken during storage. Therefore, the proposed technique may be applied to chicken-slaughtering chains and may be used to investigate bacterial diversity on chicken carcasses.