Microbial contamination in a chicken slaughterhouse: insights from sampling throughout production

Motivation: In some slaughterhouses, the high volume of chicken processed (~190k chicks/day) creates a challenging environment where contamination of the carcasses may be difficult to avoid, even with proper hygienic measures. Goal: To evaluate microbial contamination at various locations in the slaughterhouse throughout the production day. Results: Between the first and the last production batch, the microbial load of the chicken cages and of the scalding water decreased. Microbial load of blades remain stable throughout production. No differences between Belts_early vs. Belts_late. This suggests that cutting blades and each conveyor belt do not become increasingly contaminated throughout production. Belt_early is the most different group, especially compared to Cages and Scalding water. The biggest and most significant difference was Belt_early vs. Cages_early. Scalding water_early also differs considerably from the Belt groups. Conclusions: Large variability in microbial load at specific sampling points. Hygiene samples with higher microbial levels than samples during production → must be investigated! High volume of carcasses processed and lack of time to stop production and sanitize the production line pose a hindrance to reducing microbial levels in the final product.