Improving the Microbial Quality and Shelf Life of Chicken Carcasses by Trisodium Phosphate and Lactic Acid Dipping

This study determined the influence of Trisodium Phosphate (TSP) and Lactic Acid (LA) dipping on the microbial load and shelf life of broiler chicken carcasses during refrigerated storage for 8 days at 2±1°C. The results indicated that both TSP (12%) and LA (2%) dipping significantly reduced the initial microbial load of Aerobic Plate Counts (APC), Psychrotrophie Counts (PTC), Total Proteolytic Counts (PLC) and Enterobacteriaceae Counts (EBC) just after dipping and throughout the storage period in comparison with the control. At the beginning of storage (day 0), no significant differences in the microbial reductions were detected between TSP and LA treatments. By the day 8 of the storage, however, LA-dipping indicated a higher (p<0.01) mean reductions in APC, PTC and PLC than the corresponding reductions obtained by TSP-dipping. The untreated carcasses would have a refrigerated shelf life between 4 and 5 days while after chemical dipping, the shelf life extended to about 7 days in TSP-treated carcasses and 8 days in LA-treated carcasses. Therefore, both TSP and LA can be applied on poultry carcasses to reduce their microbial load and extend their shelf life during refrigerated storage.