Effectiveness of Nonchlorine Sanitizer in Reducing Pathogens of Wet Market Poultry Settings

The wet market poultry processing is a concern of spreading microbial pathogens into the environment or to the products. So, this study evaluated the microbiological contamination in poultry settings, i.e., slaughter and processing lines of wet market poultry shops, and the use of nonchlorine sanitizer to improve the sanitation. Swab samples from inner drum surfaces, defeathering machine inner surfaces, knife surfaces and workers’ hands, drum’s water, feather/carcass, and debris were collected, and their microbiological quality was determined. Most of the samples including workers’ hand surfaces were heavily contaminated with coliform, fecal coliform (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter spp.), E. coli, Salmonella enterica, and yeast and mold. The antibiotic sensitivity/resistivity test showed that E. coli was resistant to 9 antibiotics, K. pneumoniae to 8 antibiotics, S. enterica to 5 antibiotics, and Enterobacter spp. to 4 antibiotics, which were found common to all the bacterial isolates against 11 antibiotics. Additionally, in comparison to hot water washing, nonchlorine sanitizer (0.01% calcinated calcium from scallop or eggshell source) was found to effectively reduce pathogens from the surfaces of wet market poultry slaughter and processing lines. Hence, the use of nonchlorine sanitizer could be a novel practice to improve the hygiene and safety status of wet market poultry slaughterhouses and processing environment as well as reduce occupational hazard associated with poultry processing.