Metagenomics Analysis of Microbiota in Raw Chicken Stored at Different Temperature over Storage Time in Chennai

Poultry meat consumption nowadays demands the need for efficient storage practices for safe and healthy meat. Studying the putative microorganisms for meat spoilage therefore necessitates the effectiveness of storage Microbial types. In this study, poultry meat from Chennai was analyzed for spoilage considering the Microbial types of temperature (- 18 °C and 0-5 °C) and storage time (2, 4, 6 months). Conventional pour plate method was assisted with next generation sequencing to analyze the microbiota and potent spoilage bacteria. Irrespective of the storage temperature, all the samples showed bacteria of phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidota predominantly. Hafnia-Obesumbacterium and Wohlfahrtiimonas (nearly 10%), Enterococcus (~ 5%), Moellerella and Bacillus (~ 1%) genera were observed in sample stored at the slightly higher temperature. This preliminary study points out that storage temperature is important to maintain shelf life of chicken sample and sample stored at even slightly raised temperature will be spoiled within 10 days. In addition, the need for equipping metagenomics analysis along with conventional method would be required to observe the spoilage at intricate levels.