The Prevalence of Salmonella in Organically Produced Chicken Meat Parts

Introduction: Salmonella infections are still one of the most common foodborne bacterial illnesses in developing and developed countries. Especially, poultry meat and meat products are often responsible for Salmonella outbreaks in the world.

Purpose: Retail is one of the most critical points to consider for consumer safety before foodstuff reaches the consumer. The aim of this study to determine the prevalence of Salmonella in organic frozen chicken meat parts at the retail level.

Methods: A total of 88 organic frozen chicken meat parts (breast, leg quarter and drumstick) were collected from gross markets in Diyarbakir, Turkey. The chicken parts were purchased from the markets in original packages. The parts were evaluated for the presence of Salmonella using standard selective enrichment, selective plating and biochemical methods. Presumptive Salmonella colonies were confirmed using latex agglutination test.

Results: The prevalence of Salmonella was found to be 19.3% in all the analyzed samples. Salmonella prevalence in breast and drumstick samples was detected in 28.1% and 22.5%, respectively. None of the leg quarter samples was positive for Salmonella.

Significance: The results of this preliminary study showed that frozen chicken meat parts produced organically can be contaminated with Salmonella.