Swab and excised tissue sampling for total and Enterobacteriaceae counts of fresh and surface-frozen broiler skin.

Excised broiler skin tissue (12.3 cm 2 area) was (a) blended for various times up to 2 min. or (b) shaken 25, 50, or 75 times with or without sterile glass beads. Blending for 10 sec. or shaking 75 times with glass beads yielded the highest total plate count (TPC) and Enterobacteriaceae count (ENT). Counts did not significantly differ between these methods when freshly processed, unfrozen broiler skin was sampled. However, blending yielded significantly higher TPC and ENT than the conventional sampling procedure or swabbing a 12.3 cm. 2 area of the intact skin for 30 sec. with a calcium alginate swab. When sampling hard chilled (surface frozen) broiler skin, there was no significant difference between shaking and blending for TPC, but shaking gave a significantly higher ENT with less variation than blending. Blending, however, yielded significantly higher TPC and ENT counts than swabbing.