ABSTRACT
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Growth temperature classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Factors affecting shelf-life of fresh poultry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Holding temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Storage on ice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Evisceration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Initial bacterial load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Breast meat color affects spoilage rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Other factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Effect of storage temperature on generation times of bacteria found on broiler carcasses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Cold storage temperatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Elevated storage temperatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Bacteria involved in spoilage of poultry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 The origin of psychrotrophic spoilage bacteria on broiler carcasses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Identification of spoilage flora on broilers held at elevated temperatures . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Number of bacteria needed for spoilage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Causes of spoilage defects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Physical development of off-odor and slime formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Metabolic adaptation of spoilage bacteria to refrigeration temperatures . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Effect of cold storage on cellular lipids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Effect of cold storage on lipase production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Effect of cold storage on proteolytic activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Effect of cold storage on carbohydrate metabolism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Bacterial “conditioning” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Effect of freezing on species of psychrotrophic bacteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Survival of bacteria during storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Effects of freezing on shelf-life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Eliminating psychrotrophic spoilage bacteria from poultry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Detecting populations of spoilage bacteria on poultry products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Traditional microbiological methods for enumeration of psychrotrophic spoilage bacteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Rapid microbiological methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Previous research using electrical methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Selective medium for psychrotrophic spoilage bacteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Introduction Within the U. S., most poultry products are produced in the Southeast; however, a large percentage of this poultry is consumed throughout the country. Thus, part of the shelf-life of these products is eliminated during transportation of the products to their final destination. Approximately 7 billion chickens or 30 billion lb. of meat are processed in the U. S. each year, of which, 80% are marketed as fresh product. It is estimated that 2 to 4% of this meat is lost as a result of spoilage, which is equivalent to a loss of approximately $300 to $600 million per year. Thus, spoilage is of great concern to the poultry industry.
