Neck Skin Samples Research Articles

The distribution of clostridia in poultry processing plants.

Synopsis An investigation was made of the contamination of poultry carcasses with clostridia during processing. In both chickens and turkeys clostridia were present initially on the feet and breast feathers (geometric mean counts of 102‐103/g) and were frequently isolated from the vent area immediately after evisceration. Mean counts from the breast surface just before packaging were < I‐3/10 cm2 and there were 31–467/g in samples of neck skin at the same stage. Counts were progressively lower in water samples taken from scald‐tanks, wash‐tanks, spin‐chillers and chill‐tanks. A large proportion of the isolates obtained from both chicken and turkey plants were haemolytic Clostridium welchii, but a significant number of strains from the turkey plants could not be identified with recognised species.