Destruction of microorganisms on chicken carcasses by steam and boiling water immersion

A thermal destruction end point of <10 aerobic microbes per cm2 was achieved on broiler chicken carcass skin by boiling water (95 °C) immersion or flowing steam (96–98 °C) at 3 min, beyond which increasing exposure time up to 8 min did not further decrease estimated aerobic plate count (EAPC). Cross-contamination of deboned subcutaneous meat was not significantly (P>0.05) affected by exposure time of whole carcasses to boiling water or flowing steam. EAPC of deboned subcutaneous meat was positively correlated (P<0.05) with EAPC of carcass skin heat treated with boiling water (R2=0.751) and flowing steam (R2=0.857). These processing intervention procedures would provide whole poultry carcasses for commercial further processing that would not be a source of cross-contamination of further processed, value-added poultry meat products and would enhance the food safety of these products.