Occurrence of Salmonella in Porcine Liver in Northern Ireland

Pork livers from four pork processing plants in Northern Ireland were studied to assess their contamination by salmonellae. Additionally, aerobic plate counts (APC) and counts of Enterobacteriaceae were made. One hundred twenty livers were sampled immediately after evisceration and 110 sampled after being chilled overnight in the commercial premises. No salmonellae were detected. Geometric mean values for the APC were 1.6 × 104 and 3.1 × 105 CFU/g for fresh and chilled livers, respectively. Homologous geometric mean values for Enterobacteriaceae were 7.9 × 102 and 6.0 × 102 CFU/g, respectively.