An evaluation of trisodium phosphate, citric acid and lactic acid cloacal wash treatments to reduce Campylobacter , total viable counts (TVC) and total enterobacteriaceae counts (TEC) on broiler carcasses during processing Hazel Meredith a, b , David McDowell b , Declan J. Bolton a, * a Food Safety Department, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Ireland b University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Ireland article info Article history: Received 2 August 2012 Received in revised form 5 November 2012 Accepted 13 November 2012 Keywords: Campylobacter Broiler Poultry Cloacal wash Trisodium phosphate Citric acid Lactic acid abstract Campylobacetriosis is the most common foodborne bacterial illness in Europe and most cases are associated with the consumption of poultry. Interventions are urgently required to reduce Campylobacter counts on poultry carcasses. While trisodium phosphate (TSP), citric acid (CA) and lactic acid (LA) are effective poultry carcass decontamination treatments, their direct application on carcasses is not permitted. This study examined their effectiveness in killing Campylobacter in cloacal contents before testing their efficacy as cloacal wash treatments immediately before defeathering. In laboratory exper- iments, fresh broiler cloacal contents inoculated with a 5 strain cocktail of Campylobacter jejuni (3) and Campylobacter coli (2) was treated with TSP (5,10 & 20% w/v), CA (1, 5 & 10% w/v) and LA (1, 5 & 10% v/v) and surviving cells enumerated after 0, 4 and 10 min on mCCDA. The same chemical treatments were applied as a cloacal wash in a commercial broiler plant using naturally contaminated broiler carcasses. Carcass Campylobacter , TVC (psychrophile and mesophile) and TEC were determined immediately after defeathering and evisceration. TSP (20%, w/v), CA (5 & 10%, w/v) and LA (5 & 10%, w/v) reduced Campylobacter counts in broiler cloacal contents by approximately 2.0e2.5 log 10 cfu g 1 after 4 min. However, only an LA (5%, v/v) cloacal wash achieved a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in carcass Campylobacter counts (0.66 log 10 cfu cm 2 ) and this was obtained post evisceration. In general none of the treatments affected psychrophilic or mesophilic TVC with the exception of CA (5 & 10%, w/v), where post-evisceration counts were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced by 0.88 log 10 cfu cm 2 and 0.56 log 10 cfu cm 2 , respectively. None of the treatments significantly reduced TEC. This study provides further data supporting the application of cloacal washing but only as part of an overall package of measures designed to reduce Campylobacter contamination on broiler carcasses during processing. Ó 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. 1. Introduction There are an estimated 9.2 million cases of campylobacteriosis in the EU27 per annum (Anon, 2011). While most infections are manifest as gastrointestinal disease, there is potential for fatality and serious sequelae such as GuillianeBarre syndrome. Handling and consumption of poultry meat is considered a primary cause of Campylobacter infection in humans (Anon, 2011). The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently reported that 75.8% of broiler carcasses in the EU are contaminated with Campylobacter (Anon, 2010). Controlling this pathogen along the poultry chain is proving very difficult. Most poultry flocks are contaminated by the third or fourth week of production (Patriarchi et al., 2009). Campylobacter are carried into the processing plant in the ceca and cloaca where counts as high as 10 7 per gram of cecal/faecal material have been reported (Berrang & Dickens, 2000; FAO/WHO, 2009; Musgrove et al., 1997). Faecal contamination of fresh broiler carcasses during processing is the major source of Campylobacter , with most transfer to the carcass occurring during defeathering, as a result of the action of the automated plucking machine (Berrang, Buhr, Cason, & Dickens, 2001). Controlling this stage would significantly reduce Campylobacter contamination on broiler carcasses which in turn would signifi- cantly reduce the number of campylobacteriosis cases in the human population (Anon, 2011). However, to the best of our knowledge, there have only been a couple of studies undertaken to examine cloacal washing as a Campylobacter control intervention and these focused exclusively the organic acids; acetic acid, lactic * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ353 (0)1 805 9539. E-mail address: declan.bolton@teagasc.ie (D.J. Bolton). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Food Control journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodcont 0956-7135/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2012.11.026 Food Control 32 (2013) 149e152