Poultry Processing Cleansing Solution Reduces Chance of Disease

Researchers have found that the application of a cleanser composed of lauric acid and potassium hydroxide during poultry processing can remove bacteria that can cause human food-borne diseases.

The cleanser could be used to sanitise chicken carcasses during processing prior to chilling, Agricultural Research Service scientists said.

Results showed that increasing the concentration of lauric acid to 2% and potassium hydroxide to 1% of the solution removed more bacteria from the broiler carcass.

The findings of the research, published in the International Journal of Poultry Science, provide data that may be useful to poultry producers in designing non-chlorine-based sanitisers.

The researchers, who also examined the effect of spray-washing to reduce bacterial contamination of carcasses, found that pressure did not have a significant effect on reducing bacterial contamination.