Antimicrobial Efficacy of a Potassium Sorbate Dip on Freshly Processed Poultry

Fresh poultry breasts were dipped in a solution containing either 0, 2.5, 5.0 or 10.0% potassium sorbate for 1 min. Another lot of fresh poultry breasts was dipped in a suspension of either 10³ or 10⁵ cells of three strains of Salmonella /ml before being dipped in one of the potassium sorbate solutions. Use of a potassium sorbate dip significantly reduced the total number of viable bacteria on the poultry parts when compared to the untreated control parts after 7 days of storage at 10 C and after 8 days at 6 C. Use of a 10.0% sorbate dip significantly reduced the total plate count as related to the total plate count of the control parts after 5 days of storage at 22 C. Application of a 10.0% sorbate dip resulted in a significantly lower Salmonella count than of the untreated parts after 7 days of storage at 10 C and a 5.0% or greater sorbate dip markedly reduced the growth rate of the Salmonella at 10 and 22 C when compared to the growth rate of the Salmonella on control parts.