Food Safety
Processors Adopt Electrolyzed Water
During and after slaughter, poultry carcasses can be contaminated with food borne pathogens. The Food Safety Inspection Service has established a zero tolerance policy that does not allow feces on the surface of poultry carcasses. UGA food scientists in Griffin conducted extensive research on electrolyzed (EO) water to evaluate the efficacy of acidic EO water to inactivate food borne pathogens including E. coli O157:H7, L. monocytogenes, Salmonella, Campylobacter jejuni and Bacillus cereus. Along with specific EO water treatments on chicken carcasses and shell eggs, the scientists found a combined treatment of alkaline EO water followed by acidic EO water further enhanced the efficacy to inactive food borne pathogens. In 2004, Murray's Chickens became the first poultry processor in the U.S. to install an EO water system to kill pathogens without the addition of chemicals. Several major poultry processors have conducted test trials on using acidic EO water as an additional treatment for poultry processing and for the re-processing lines. (2007)
Sources
| Name | Department | |
| Yen-con Hung | yhung@uga.edu | Food Science and Technology |
| Scott Russell | srussell@uga.edu | Poultry Science |