Abstract

Campylobacter is a serious foodborne pathogen for which the USDA-FSIS has established stricter performance standards. Processors must establish effective treatment plans to lower the microbial levels of Campylobacter to meet these regulations. This study evaluated the low pH processing aid - CMS PoultrypHresh™ to reduce Campylobacter on carcasses (3 groups of 6) collected prior to the chiller that were individually placed into a 38 L container with either 20 L tap water (pH = 7.3) or 20 L of CMS PoultrypHresh™ solution (pH = 1.4) with air agitation. An untreated group was the control. After treatment, drained carcasses were placed into a plastic bag, and rinsed by hand in 400 mL of buffered peptone for 60 s. Rinsates were cultured for Campylobacter by direct plating on Campy-cefex agar and enrichment in Bolton's broth. If no Campylobacter was detected by direct plating, the incubated broth was plated and incubated under the same conditions. Confirmed Campylobacter were detected on 30/36 (83.3%) untreated carcasses, on 25/36 (69.4%) water treated carcasses, and on 2/36 (5.6%) of CMS PoultrypHresh™ treated carcasses. This treatment may be an option for processors to meet requirements and minimize Campylobacter to avoid regulatory action from FSIS.