Thermal inactivation of Salmonella spp. in ground chicken breast or thigh meat

Abstract

SummaryThermal inactivation of a four‐strain mixture of Salmonella spp. was determined in chicken breast and thigh meat. Inoculated meat was packaged in bags and then completely immersed in a circulating water bath and held at 55, 57.5, 60 and 62.5 °C for pre‐determined lengths of time. When the surviving bacteria were enumerated on tryptic soya agar supplemented with 0.6% yeast extract and 1% pyruvate (non‐selective medium), D‐values (time to inactivate 90% of bacteria) in chicken breast meat were 6.08, 4.77, 3.00 and 0.66 min at 55, 57.5, 60 and 62.5 °C, respectively; the values in thigh meat ranged from 11.48 min at 55 °C to 0.84 min at 62.5 °C. As expected, the measured heat resistance was lower when the recovery medium was selective (xylose lysine deoxycholate agar). Thermal death time values from this study will assist food processors in designing the HACCP plans to effectively eliminate Salmonella spp. in cooked chicken breast and thigh meat.