Peroxyacetic acid and acidified sodium chlorite reduce microbial contamination on whole chicken carcasses obtained from two processing points

Chicken meat is frequently contaminated with zoonotic bacterial pathogens such as Campylobacter spp and Salmonella spp. These two bacterial genera are commonly linked with cases of human gastrointestinal disease, thus mitigating their presence in the poultry meat supply chain is paramount. Here, the efficacy of two sanitizers, peroxyacetic acid (PAA) and acidified sodium chlorite (ASC), was tested using whole chicken carcasses obtained either prior to the inside/outside wash or the post-immersion spin chill steps of processing. Two concentrations of PAA (100 and 200 ppm) and ASC (450 and 900 ppm) were tested, and both significantly reduced total viable bacteria and Campylobacter counts per carcass. Both sanitizers also reduced the prevalence of Salmonella on whole carcasses from both processing steps. Log reduction of both the total viable and Campylobacter counts were, however, temperature and processing stage dependent. The efficacy of both PAA and ASC were also compared with sodium hypochlorite. No significant difference between the three sanitizers was observed for the reduction of TVC, Campylobacter or Salmonella using carcasses obtained at either processing step. These results demonstrate that PAA or ASC could be implemented as a replacement or used in addition to sodium hypochlorite to effectively reduce bacteria on whole carcasses. •Bacterial counts on chicken carcasses varied significantly between batches.•PAA and ASC significantly reduced bacterial loads on whole chicken carcasses.•PAA and ASC exhibited similar efficacy compared with sodium hypochlorite at reducing bacteria.