Post-harvest Salmonella spp. prevalence in turkey carcasses in processing plant in the northeast part of Poland.

Turkeys carcasses at selected point after slaughter on dressing line in poultry were sampled and analyzed for Salmonella. These slaughter turkeys came from the northeast part of Poland. The examinations were carried out in each month of 2009. Three hundred turkeys were selected at random from a commercial slaughter line, immediately after completing the cooling process. The percentage of these 300 turkeys from which Salmonella spp. were isolated was relatively high (8.3%; Salmonella positive results were observed in 25 cases). The lowest Salmonella spp. rate (1.3 %) for slaughter birds was found in the fourth quarter, and the highest contamination rate at 18.6% was found, in the third quarter. The serological types of Salmonella spp. isolated from the whole turkey carcasses were S. Saintpaul, S. Senftenberg, S. Anatum, S. Heidelberg, S. Hadar, S. Typhimurium and S. Infantis.