Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2016

Publication Title

Food Control

Abstract

Understanding mechanisms of cross-contamination during poultry processing is vital for effective pathogen control. As an initial step toward this goal, we develop a mathematical model of the chilling process in a typical high speed Canadian processing plant. An important attribute of our model is that it provides quantifiable links between processing control parameters and microbial levels, simplifying the complexity of these relationships for implementation into risk assessment models. We apply our model to generic, non-pathogenic Escherichia coli contamination on broiler carcasses, connecting microbial control with chlorine sanitization, organic load in the water, and pre-chiller E. coli levels on broiler carcasses. In particular, our results suggest that while chlorine control is important for reducing E. coli levels during chilling, it plays a less significant role in the management of cross-contamination issues.

Comments

This work was partially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grant number: 105588-2011), the Canada Research Chairs Program (Grant number: 230720), Mitacs and the Mprime Centre for Disease Modelling.

DOI

10.1016/j.foodcont.2015.05.007

Version

Postprint

Volume

59

Included in

Mathematics Commons

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