Shredded sponge or paper as a cloacal plug to limit broiler carcass Campylobacter contamination during automated defeathering1

SUMMARY Campylobacter is a human food-borne pathogen frequently associated with poultry and poultry products and can be found in high numbers within the gut contents of colonized broilers. The number of Campylobacter on broiler carcasses increases markedly during automated defeathering as rubber picker fingers press on the abdomen and can force gut contents out of the cloaca. One method to prevent this increase is to plug the cloaca and prevent escape of gut contents. For a plug to be effective, it must resist expulsion during picking. In the current work, we test shredded sponge or paper as a means to plug broiler carcass cloacae during automated feather removal. Broiler carcass cloacae were plugged before scalding and carcasses were sampled to determine the bacterial numbers present on breast skin after scalding (before feather picking) and again after feather picking. Neither 50 cc of shredded paper nor 25 cc of shredded sponge was effective as a cloacal plug. However, a plug made of 50 cc shredded sponge material was effective to occlude broiler carcass vents during automated defeathering. Significantly fewer Campylobacter cells were detected on the breast skin of post pick carcasses plugged with 50 mL of shredded sponge than on post pick unplugged control carcasses.