Info on some common bacteria

Campylobacter jejuni
Incubation period: 2-5 days
Signs and Symptoms: Diarrhea, cramps, fever, muscle pain, nausea and vomiting
Associated Foods: Undercooked or raw poultry and beef, unpasteurized milk and dairy products, and contminated water.
Duration of Illness: 2-10 days

Clostridium botlinum (toxin-producing)
Incubation period: 3-30 days
Signs and Symptoms: Lethargy, weakness, poor feeding, constipation, poor head control, poor gag and suck, poor muscle tone
Associated Foods: Honey, home-canned fruits and vegetables.
Duration of Illness: Variable

Clostridinum perferingens
Incubation period: 8-16 hours
Signs and Symptoms: Watery diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramps
Associated Foods: Meats, poultry, gravy, dried or precooked foods and beans.
Duration of Illness: 1-2 days

E.coli (toxin-producing)
Incubation period: 1-8 days
Signs and Symptoms: Severe diarrhea(often bloody), abdominal pain and vomiting
Associated Foods:Undercooked beef, unpasteurized milk and juice, raw fruits and vegetables, salami, salad dresing, imported cheese, and conaminated water.
Duration of Illness: 5-10 days

Listeria monocytogenes
Incubation period: 9-48 hours for gastrointestinal symptoms
Signs and Symptoms: Fever, muscle aches, and nausea or diarrhea
Associated Foods: Fresh soft cheeses, unpasteurized milk and cheese, ice cream, raw vegetables, raw and cooked poultry, raw meat and fish, ready-to-eat deli meat and hotdogs.
Duration of Illness: Variable

Salmonella
Incubation period: 1-3 days
Signs and Symptoms: Diarrhea, fever, abdominal, cramps, vomiting, headache, constipation, chills and muscle pain
Associated Foods: Contaminated eggs, poultry, unpasteurized milk and juice, cheese, raw meat and fish, and shrimp, yeast, coconut, salad dressing, cake mixes, cream-filled desserts, peanuts butter, cocoa, chocolate, and raw fruits and vegetables.
Duration of Illness: 4-7 days

Shigella
Incubation period: 1-2 days
Signs and Symptoms: Abdominal cramps, fever, nausea, vomiting,chills, fatigue, and diarrhea
Associated Foods: Food or water contaminated with fecal material, raw vegetables, egg salad
Duration of Illness: 4-7 days

Staphylococcus aureus (toxin-producing)
Incubation period:
Signs and Symptoms: Sudden onset od severe nausea and vomiting, exhaustion, and abdominal cramps. Diarrhea and fever may be present.
Associated Foods: Improperly refrigerated meats, poultry, eggs, potato salad, egg salad and cream pastries
Duration of Illness: 1-2 days

Spoilage of cooked poultry products

Microbiological content of cooked products are affected by the method of processing, packaging and storage. (Denton and Gardner, 1982; Tompkin, 1986; Johnston and Tompkin, 1992). All the products in this catergory should be cooked at a time and temperature to obtain a cooked appearance, appropriate tenderness, and other desirable organoleptic qualities. In addition, the processes should also be adequate to destroy enteric pathogens like Salmonellae, C. jejuni, L. monocytogenes and Staph. aureus which normaly found in raw poultry.
Vegetative bacteria and some spores on the surface of the poultry products are killed during cooking, but some like enterococci, Lactobacillus viridescens in the center of the product may survive depending on the thermal process. Thermal processes are not adequate to ensure the destruction of spore-forming pathogens like CL. perfringens and CL. botulinum. Cooked products are subject to post-process contamination during slicing and packaging.
When chicken is subjected to frying in oil, temperature at the geometric center usually reach 93ºC or higher, which is lethal to vegetative bacteria but not to spores. These products are also subjected to post-process contamination during subsequent handling and packaging.
Common microogranisms that are involved in cooked poultry can be classified into 2 groups: 1) Enteric pathogens and Staph. aureus that are present in raw poultry and which could contaminate the products after cooking; 2) Psychrotrophic pathogens which can establish themselves in the cooked product environment e.g. L. monocytogenes.
Other possible pathogens arre like CL. botulinum, CL. perfringens and B.cereus which are spore-forming which can survive during the cooking of the perishable poultry products.
To ensure the microbiological safety and quality of the cooked poultry products , HACCP are used. The HACCPs used are:

1. To ensure the use of a thermal process that destroys non-spore-forming pathogens
2. Control the chiling step to prevent the multipication of mesophilic spore-forming pathogens
3. Prevent cross-contamination from raw meats to cooked product
4. Control the environment and handling of cooked products to minimize contamination with L.monocytogenes
5. Control storage and distribution times and temp. which will ensure microbiological safety
6. Provide food hadling and preparation procedurs to the end users.

Spoilage of frozen chicken product

Frozen poultry products do not usually undergo microbial spoilage. Maybe some yeasts and molds can grow on frozen meaat at temp. as low as -7ºC. Cadosporium herbaum ( causing black spots); Thamnidium elegans ( causing whisker-like growth); and Sporotrichum carnis ( causing white spots).
Spoilage of frozen poultry products usually occurs during thawing or stored at refrigerated temperature from sufficient time. The water that released from thawing is hazardous as it may contain pathogen like Campylobacter jejuni and Clostridium perfringens.
Enzymatic activity can cause off-flavour in frozen poultry products that are stored for prolonged periods. The extent of product deterioration will vary with the type of product, method of processing and packaging, and storage conditions.
To ensure the standard of microbiology and safety of frozen poultry products. Chilled carcasses must be packaged , promptly frozen, and held at or near -18ºC. Carcasses must be thawed in a manner that decomposition is limited and growth of microbial is prevented. * Both thawing poultry and thawing water should be prevented from contacting ready-to-eat foods.

Process flow of chicken

Chicken--->Slaughter--->Scalding--->Defeathering--->Evisceration--->Spray-washing
--->Chilling--->Packaging--->Freezing--->Delivery to hospital--->Storing at hospital's walk-in-freezer

1. Slaughter: Birds are stunnd by electrical shock then cut their necks to sever carotid arteries. This step does not have any significant impact on the microbial qulity of finished product.
2. Scalding: To facilitate the removal of feathers.During scalding, soil,dust and fecal matter from the feet,feathers, skin, intestinal tract and respiration tract are released into the scald water.Thus, a variety of bacteria like Clostridium, Micrococcuc, Proteus, Pseudomonas, Salmonella, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus can be isolated from the scald water. However, the aerobic plate counts of scald water could be mainain at least <50>
3. Defeathering: Involved a series of machines through which scalded chickens will pass and in which rotating rubber finger beat the loosen feathers from the carcass. The aerobic plate count and Staphylococcal counts are higher in this process due to insufficient cleaning of the rubber fingers. Rubber fingers are difficlt to clean and are subject to wearing and cracking. Even before they deteriorate, the microorganisms can readily penetrate below the surface of the rubber.The freshly scalded chickes also create a warm and moist operating temperature within the defeathering machines thus provide a more favourable conditions for Staph.aureus to grow.The defeathering machines can be also colonized by some strains of Staph.aureus which will produce an extracellular slime and a tendency toward clumping. When these properties forms, they are more likely to increase the resistance of these strains to low level of chlorine and become indigenous to equipment as time goes by. Hence, there will be a mix strains of Staph.aureus from the chicken and the equipment. All these can be partially controlled by emphasizing adequate cleaing before disinfecting, replacing orn fingers, avoid excessive feathers accummulation, providing a spray of water with sufficient chlorine and not shrouding the machine so heat can escape. During defeathering, the major contamination are Campylobacter spp., Salmonellae and E.coli. It tends to spread microorganisms from contaminate carcasses to many carcasses. The microbial population on the carcasses will directly reflects the microbial quality of the carasses immediately after defeathering.
4. Evisceration: Edible viscera like hearts,livers and gizzards are removed from the carcassess. Thus, microorganisms are transferred from carcass to carcass by workers,inspectors and equipment. Besides, manual opening the abdominal cavity and evisceration can give rise to considerable contamination esp. To prevent an increase in microbial counts on the carcasses, mechanical evisceration requires proper maintenance and continuous cleaning of machinery.
5. Spray-washing: It is conducted after defeathering and again after evisceration to remove organic materials and some microorganisms acquired during evisceration. The sprays help to decrease the aerobic plate count, Enterobacteriaceae and coliforms by 50 to 90%. Adding cholrine to spray water can help to reduce bacterial counts. However, certain Pseudomonas spp. can still contaminate teh carcasses.
6. Chilling: This process is necessary to delay the growth of psychrotrophic spoilage bacteria and prevent growth of most foodborne bacteria thus improve the microbial safety and quality.
7. Packaging: The hygienic conditions of the conveyors and other equipments like knives and tables which contact the chilled chicken are the major factor influencing the rate of spoilage during packaging.
8. Freezing: The main purpose of this process is to extend the shelf-life of the carcasses by inhibiting the growth of those pathogenic mesophiles.
9. Delivery: During transportation , the temperature of food maintain <>Storage Condition @ hospital: The delivered carcasses are stored in a walk-in-freezer at tepmerature of -18 degree celsius to inhibit the growth of most pathogenic microorganisms.

Recipe

Stew chicken with fragrant rice(70-75pax)

Ingredients:

Marinade for chicken
8kg Lean chicken meat,diced
6tbsp Sesame oil
3tbsp White pepper
150g Motorcar flour

Fragrant rice
7kg Uncooked rice
7kg Water,boiled
2/3bowl Fragrant oil
1/3bowl Sesame oil

*P.S: 1bowl=400ml

Other ingredients
5L Chicken stock
150ml Soya bean oil
300ml Dark soya sauce
350ml Motorcar flour (Mixed with water)
100g Ginger,sliced
90g Brown onion,sliced

Preparation:

1. Combine all the ingredients required for the marination of chicken in a mixing bowl.
2. Mix well the marinade on the chicken meat.
3. Marinate overnight.

Method:

1. First add boiled water into the rice cooker .
2. Then add the uncooked rice into the cooker.
3. Let it cook for 40mins.
4. When the rice is cooked, add fragrant oil and sesame oil into it.
5. Mix the oils and rice well.
6. Saute the marinated chicken meat.
7. Add oil into heated wok.
8. Saute the ginger first in the wok.
9. Add the onions into the wok and saute until slightly golden brown.
10. Add dark soya sauce into the wok.
11. Then stir-fry the chicken for 5mins and add chicken stock into the wok.
12. Simmer until it boils.
13. Thicken the stew chicken's gravy with motorcar flour.
14. Dish it up and it is ready to be serve.