Water and air in two poultry processing plants' chilling facilities--a bacteriological survey

1. Water, aerosols and air in chilling facilities in 2 poultry abattoirs were bacteriologically examined. The different types of samples displayed a variety of bacterial loads and genera. 2. The aerobic plate count in water from spray nozzles was about log10 2 to 3 in both plants. Flavobacterium, Alcaligenes, Acinetobacter and Pseudomonadaceae were predominant in these samples. 3. The microbial load in air of the 2 plants was quite different, consisting mainly of Micrococcaceae and Gram-positive irregular rods. 4. The aerobic plate count in aerosols was extremely high. The flora was the same as was found in the spray nozzles samples, plus Enterobacteriaceae, Micrococcaceae and streptococci, which presumably came from the air in the system. Cross-contamination may well occur in evaporative chilling.