Acidified sodium chlorite, trisodium phosphate and populations of Campylobacter jejuni on chicken breast skin

The present study was designed to determine the effects of acidified sodium chlorite (ASC) and trisodium phosphate (TSP) antimicrobial treatments. Chicken skin samples inoculated with Campylobacter jejuni ATCC 33291 and C. jejuni pc10 (isolated in our laboratory from chicken carcasses) were separately dipped into sterile tap water (control), 0.1% ASC, 10% TSP, 0.1% ASC followed by 10% TSP and 10% TSP followed by 0.1% ASC for 15 s at 25 +/- 1C. Campylobacter jejuni counts and pH values were determined after 0, 1, 3 and 5 days of storage at 4 +/- 1C. On day 0, reductions were between 1.1-2.5 log for C. jejuni ATCC 33291 and 1.4-2.4 log for C. jejuni pc10, while the reduction effects of all antimicrobials increased (P < 0.001) during the storage period and the bacterial counts reached undetectable levels (< 1.0 x 10(2) cfu/g) on day 5 of storage at 4 +/- 1C. The results of this study suggest that introduction of the antimicrobial treatments ASC, TSP and ASC followed by TSP into poultry processing systems could provide an added measure of safety.