POLYPHOSPHATE INHIBITION OF GROWTH OF PSEUDOMONADS FROM POULTRY MEAT

Both commercial polyphosphates and equivalent mixtures of chemically pure polyphosphates inhibited the growth of nonfluorescent pseudomonads in a synthetic medium. Fluorescent strains grew after a short lag. Inhibition was not caused by high pH, but rather by chelation of metal ions essential to the growth of the bacteria. Mg(++) and the natural competitive chelators, pyoverdine and bacteriological peptone, reversed the inhibition. Chilling chicken carcasses overnight in slush ice containing 3 and 8% polyphosphates lengthened subsequent shelf-life 17 and 25%, respectively. Chickens held in continuous contact with 3 and 8% solutions of polyphosphates during storage at 2.2 C kept 17 and 67% longer, respectively. Only fluorescent strains developed in the presence of 3 and 8% polyphosphates. Chickens held in antiseptic ice containing 8% polyphosphates kept 60% longer than did those in water ice.