Two experiments were conducted by Anita Menconi at the University of Arkansas and co-authors there and at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico to evaluate the effect of chitosan as a biological sanitiser on chicken skin during storage.

In a paper in International Journal of Poultry Science, they explain that, for experiment 1 (two trials) five skin samples of equal size were dipped into a solution containing 10 colony-forming units (cfu) per mL of Salmonella Typhimurium (ST) for 30 seconds. Skin samples were then removed and dipped into a solution containing PBS or 0.5 per cent chitosan for 30 seconds.

In experiment 2, aerobic Gram-negative spoilage bacteria were used as indicators instead of ST.

In both experiments, all samples were placed in individual bags and kept at 4°C.

In experiment 1, dipping ST contaminated skin samples in a solution of 0.5 per cent chitosan reduced (p<0.05) the recovery of ST by 24 hours.

In experiment 2, 0.5 per cent chitosan treatment solution reduced (p<0.05) the presence of spoilage-causing psychrotrophic bacteria below detectable levels.

Menconi and co-authors concluded from their results that 0.5 per cent chitosan has a potential for use in an intervention technology for the control of foodborne pathogens on the surface of chicken skin contaminated with bacteria during storage.

Reference

^{Menconi A., X. Hernandez-Velasco, J.D. Latorre, G. Kallapura, N.R. Pumford, M.J. Morgan, B.M. Hargis and G. Tellez. 2013. Effect of chitosan as a biological sanitiser for Salmonella Typhimurium and aerobic Gram negative spoilage bacteria present on chicken skin. International Journal of Poultry Science. 12(6):318-321.}

October 2013