Spread of an enteric ‘marker’ organism during evisceration of New York dressed poultry in a simulated kitchen environment

Abstract

1. Five volunteers, with experience of eviscerating poultry or game birds in the home, each eviscerated three New York dressed chicken carcases that had been artificially inoculated in the colon with a readily identifiable ‘marker’ strain of Escherichia coli.

2. In all cases, evisceration resulted in breakage of the intestines at one or more sites, often with leakage of gut contents, or extrusion of faeces from the cloaca because of pressure on the colon during the manipulations involved.

3. The marker organism was detected in the vent region and abdominal cavity of each carcase and sometimes on the breast and back, which appeared to reflect the degree of handling during evisceration, because the hands of each individual became heavily contaminated.

With some individuals, the marker also spread beyond the immediate preparation area and was detected on exposure plates.

5. Results support the view that evisceration of poultry in a domestic environment could lead to cross‐contamination of other foods with any food‐borne human pathogens present.