ORIGINAL PAPER An Evaluation of the Potential of High-Intensity Ultrasound for Improving the Microbial Safety of Poultry P. N. Haughton & J. G. Lyng & D. J. Morgan & D. A. Cronin & F. Noci & S. Fanning & P. Whyte # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 Abstract The application of sonication and thermosoni- cation (53±1 °C) was investigated as potential methods for reducing numbers of Campylobacter, enterobacteria- ceae and total viable counts (TVC) on raw poultry. Sonication equipment included a high-intensity unit (HI) and a low-intensity unit (LI), which produced 20,000 and 20 W/L, respectively. The susceptibility of ten Campylo- bacter isolates in liquid media to thermosonication treatment was also investigated to determine whether differences between isolates existed. All Campylobacter strains were susceptible to thermosonication in the HI unit with inactivations ranging from 2.97–4.15 log 10 CFU/mL. Campylobacter jejuni was more susceptible to thermoso- nication than to thermal or sonication treatment with mean inactivations of 4.72, 1.45 and 3.17 log 10 CFU/mL, respectively. Following 16 min thermal, sonication and thermosonication treatments of broiler skin pieces in the HI unit, no viable Campylobacter or enterobacteriaceae were detected and TVC were reduced by 1.93, 1.34 and 2.49 log 10 CFU/g, respectively. Thermosonication treat- ment in the LI unit reduced enterobacteriaceae and TVC populations by 2.74 and 1.69 log 10 CFU/g, respectively. Thermosonication treatment was generally more effective against Campylobacter in liquid matrices in comparison to inoculated poultry products. Keywords Campylobacter . Sonication . Thermosonication . Poultry . Decontamination Introduction Campylobacter jejuni is the main bacterial cause of enteric human infections in many countries, with poultry being the predominant source (Zilbauer et al. 2008; Mor-Mur and Yuste 2010). A high proportion of raw chicken sold worldwide is contaminated with C. jejuni and reported prevalences have varied considerably between studies (Food Safety Authority 2002; Whyte et al. 2004; Moore et al. 2005). Despite efforts to reduce Campylobacter contamination on broiler farms and throughout the slaugh- ter process, the prevalence of Campylobacter remains high (van Gerwe et al. 2009). Birds in commercial broiler flocks are frequently colonised by campylobacters at the time of slaughter and carcasses can also become contaminated during processing. These pathogens may survive subse- quent stages of the food chain thereby presenting a risk to public health. Interventions aimed at reducing the concen- trations on raw meat, such as freezing or decontamination, have been identified in quantitative risk assessment models as effective public health interventions (Nauta et al. 2009). Quantitative microbial risk assessments have indicated that even moderate reductions in the numbers of campylobacters on carcasses (>1 log 10 per carcass) can significantly reduce the risk of exposure in humans and would result in a substantial decline in the incidence of human infections (Lindqvist and Lindblad 2008). P. N. Haughton : J. G. Lyng : D. J. Morgan : D. A. Cronin : F. Noci : S. Fanning : P. Whyte Institute of Food and Health, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland P. N. Haughton : S. Fanning : P. Whyte (*) Centre for Food Safety, School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland e-mail: paul.whyte@ucd.ie Food Bioprocess Technol (2012) 5:992–998 DOI 10.1007/s11947-010-0372-y Received: 25 January 2010 / Accepted: 29 April 2010 / Published online: 29 May 2010