The presence of Yersinia enterocolitica and other Yersinia species on the carcasses of market broilers

Sixty ready-to-cook broiler carcasses obtained from several local supermarkets were tested for the presence of Yersinia enterocolitica and other Yersinia species. In the present study, the authors used two enrichment broths, yeast-extract/rosebengal-bile oxalate sorbose (YER-BOS) and phosphate-buffered saline with a postenrichment KOH treatment (PBS-KOH), and two plating media, cefsulodin-irgasan-novobiocin (CIN) and pectin agar. Yersinia organisms were found on 34 of 60 carcasses (56.7%) and Y. enterocolitica, on 16 of 60 carcasses (26.7%). There was no significant difference between CIN and pectin agar; however, PBS-KOH yielded a significantly higher (P less than or equal to .05) detection rate than YER-BOS, regardless of the plating media used. In addition to Y. enterocolitica, Y. frederiksenii and Y. intermedia were also isolated from the market broilers. None of the Y. enterocolitica isolates were found to be presumptively virulent.