Abstract:
Consumption of Salmonella-contaminated foods, such as poultry and fresh eggs, is known to be one of the main causes of salmonellosis. The aim of the study was to identify Salmonella spp. in freshly cut and frozen chicken meat to protect consumer’s health and investigate effect of temperature and quorum sensing in Salmonella and microbial contamination within chicken meat in Islamabad. Samples were analyzed under low temperature (4 °C) storage time and conditions to predict the potential growth and survival of Salmonella in meat. Salmonella counts were observed to increase after 48 h. Heterotrophic plate count (HPC) in frozen chicken meat (6-7.71 log CFU/g) was low as compared to that of freshly cut chicken meat (8.1-11.07 log CFU/g) samples. Microbial and Salmonella counts within chicken meat samples was low in frozen chicken meat however both types of meat exceeded World Health Organization (WHO) 3 log CFU/g and International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Food Standards (ICMSF) permissible limit of 103 CFU/g. D-values for Salmonella cocktail were 4.05, 3.28, 1.89, 1.65 and 1.38 min at 50, 55, 60, 65 and 70 °C respectively and obtained Z-value was 40.7 °C. All Salmonella spp. isolated from chicken meat lack AI-1 mechanism but biofilm formation during crystal violet assay showed that QS is via AI-2 mechanism. The maximum biofilm formation ability was 0.321 ± 0.001 and 0.318 ± 0.001 by Salmonella kentucky and Salmonella Heidelberg respectively.
