Impact of Built-up-Litter and Commercial Antimicrobials on and Contamination of Broiler Carcasses Processed at a Pilot Mobile Poultry-Processing Unit.

The small-scale mobile poultry-processing unit (MPPU) produced raw poultry products are of particular food safety concern due to exemption of USDA poultry products inspection act. Limited studies reported the microbial quality and safety of MPPU-processed poultry carcasses. This study evaluated the and prevalence in broiler ceca and on MPPU-processed carcasses and efficacy of commercial antimicrobials against on broilers. In study I, straight-run Hubbard × Cobb broilers (147) were reared for 38 days on clean-shavings (CS, 75) or built-up-litter (BUL, 72) and processed at an MPPU. Aerobic plate counts (APCs), coliforms, , and yeast/molds (Y/M) of carcasses were analyzed on petrifilms. Ceca and carcass samples underwent microbial analyses for and spp. using the modified USDA method and confirmed by API-20e test (), latex agglutination immunoassay (), and Gram staining (). Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (CadF gene) identified the prevalence of and in ceca and on carcasses. In study II, fresh chilled broiler carcasses were spot inoculated with (4.5 log CFU/mL) and then undipped, or dipped into peroxyacetic acid (PAA) (1,000 ppm), lactic acid (5%), lactic and citric acid blend (2.5%), sodium hypochlorite (69 ppm), or a HO-PAA mix (SaniDate 5.0, 0.25%) for 30 s. Surviving was recovered onto Brucella agar. APCs, coliforms, and populations were similar ( > 0.05) on CS and BUL carcasses. Carcasses of broilers raised on BUL contained a greater ( < 0.05) Y/M population (2.2 log CFU/mL) than those reared on CS (1.8 log CFU/mL). was not detected in any ceca samples, whereas 2.8% of the carcasses from BUL were present with . Prevalence of spp., was lower ( < 0.05), and was similar ( > 0.05) in CS-treated ceca than BUL samples. Prevalence of spp., , and was not different ( > 0.05) on CS- and BUL-treated carcasses. All antimicrobials reduced by 1.2-2.0 log CFU/mL on carcasses compared with controls. Hence, raising broilers on CS and applying post-chilling antimicrobial treatment can reduce and on MPPU-processed broiler carcasses.