Summary

The chicken meat industry is working toward ensuring the safety of Australian chicken meat through understanding the risks of foodborne pathogens in their products. National baseline surveys of whole birds at end of processing have been undertaken by Agrifutures chicken meat program. To provide industry with information on the incidence and levels of Campylobacter and Salmonella. This project will extend such information allowing the industry to determine how pathogen levels on retail products compare with those on whole birds at end of processing and identify which product types might pose a greater risk for foodborne pathogens. Such information will allow interventions to focus on specific product types. To achieve this, the project will develop a sampling plan in consultation with industry to test up to 500 samples of various chicken products (up to 5) across 5 state/territories in Australia for levels of pathogens (Campylobacter and Salmonella) and indicator organisms (E. coli and Total Viable Counts).

Program

Chicken Meat

Research Organisation

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Objective Summary

The major objective of this project is to provide the chicken meat industry with quantitative data on foodborne pathogens and indicator organisms in retail raw chicken products nationwide. The outcome of this project will provide the industry with information to identify specific product lines or areas which pose the greatest risk for industry reputation and will identify where to target efforts for interventions to reduce these risks.