| Many food borne illnesses are caused by the consumption of contaminated poultry meat. Sometimes the fault falls on the processing plant, but the majority of the incidents are caused by cross-contamination and undercooked meat. The objective of the study was to evaluate the shelf life of fresh poultry meat from a local processing plant. Processed poultry carcasses had shelf life of 2-14 days at 28-40 °F. Microbiological testing was done at 0, 3. 6, 9, 12 days of storage. No significant differences (P>0.05) between days were found for aerobic plate count, coliforms or Escherichia coli. Campylobacter jejuni was found in 70% of all the processed carcasses. |
