Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The NSW poultry processing industry has gone through an evolution of regulatory change over the past 100 years from an inspection system through to a HACCP-based food safety system audited by the NSW Food Safety Authority (FSA). This required the restructuring of legislation and an understanding of the appropriate microbiological standards by which the FSA could judge the effectiveness of the operator’s processing operation. This microbiological standard was developed following two surveys of the vast majority of registered poultry processors in NSW. These surveys demonstrated the microbiological outcomes that could be achieved by the processors. From this knowledge, a new standard for the levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli) on product were established that were to be used by the operator and the regulator to judge the effectiveness of the operator’s program. Studies into the carriage of Salmonella species on raw poultry in the plant and on the reliability of the microbiological tests being used within the survey and by industry were carried out. They found that there had been a significant reduction in carriage of Salmonella species on raw poultry from 48.6% to 34.2% over two years. The test method utilised in the survey and one utilised by the Australian industry were shown to be able to detect Salmonella Typhimurium at 1-3 CFU per ml of carcase rinse fluid. An examination of E. coli by PCR to determine the likelihood that E. coli carried by NSW poultry were capable of inducing Haemorrhagic Uraemic Syndrome (HUS) found no evidence of shigatoxin producing genes (stx1 or stx2) or enterohaemorrhagic E. coli specific plasmid (ehxA). The attachment factor, intimin (eaeA) was found in E. coli from 93 of 430 carcases (21.6%). Campylobacter species were found on 94% of all carcases in the first survey. A count of Campylobacter species on a series of carcases from one plant found an average of 163 CFU per cm2 on the broiler chickens tested. Because raw poultry carry pathogens from the processing plant into the wider community, the use of two post-chill sanitisers was examined. This study found that it is possible to significantly reduce the number of pathogens being carried by raw poultry. The use of post-chill sanitisers provides a potential means of reducing the risk of foodborne illness arising from the handling of raw poultry and eating undercooked poultry meat.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/222159 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | King, Stuart |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright 2007 Stuart King |
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