Effects of lime on Salmonella enteritidis survival in vitro

SUMMARY The presence of Salmonella or Campylobacter in poultry litter may contribute to contaminated processed carcasses by increasing the bacterial load of skin and feathers or by providing a source for upper gastrointestinal contamination during preharvest feed withdrawal. Presently, we evaluated the effect of added lime on survival of Salmonella enteritidis in used poultry litter during room temperature incubations for 24, 48, or 96 h. Addition of any concentration of lime evaluated markedly increased pH (control: 8.36; 5%: 12.13; 10%: 12.53; 20%: 12.57). Addition of lime resulted in significantly reduced Salmonella recovery incidence at 24 h. Interestingly, no further lime-associated reduction in Salmonella recovery was observed at 48 h. These data suggest that the addition of hydrated lime can markedly reduce Salmonella recovery in a relatively short time (<24 h). The effect and persistence of lime-associated pH elevations under commercial conditions remains to be evaluated.