Bacteriological examination of commercial precooked Eastern-type turkey rolls

Studies were conducted to ascertain the bacteriological condition of commercially cooked Eastern-type (foil-wrapped-oven roasted) turkey rolls during processing and storage. After 2 weeks at 5 C, numbers of aerobes on the surface of rolls, in slices, and in whole rolls reached levels of from 1 to 10 million per cm(2) or per g. In stored whole rolls, coliform and enterococcus counts ranged, respectively, from about 10,000 to more than 1 million per g and from < 100 to more than 1 million per g. Postcooking processing operations in two plants did not significantly affect the total count of turkey rolls. Eight of 28 rolls obtained after handling and packaging contained coagulase-positive staphylococci.