Efficacy of the thermal process in destroying antimicrobial- resistant bacteria in commercially prepared barbecued rotisserie chicken

Abstract

The occurrence of antimicrobial-resistant Gram-positive cocci in poultry and poultry-meat products constitutes a potential reservoir for disseminating antibiotic resistance into the community via the food chain. This potential risk demands an ever-present requirement to ensure public safety by utilising thermal processes that have a high probability of achieving target process lethality in preparing commercially cooked ready-to-eat poultry. As a significant quantity of chicken meat in Australia is sold through the food service industry, such as the fast food chains, this study investigated the lethality of the cooking process in destroying these bacteria in barbecued (BBQ) rotisserie chicken prepared at a fast food outlet. The antimicrobial-resistant, Gram-positive cocci for this study were isolated from two poultry processing plants in Western Australia. The results confirm that the lethal effect of the cooking process assures the destruction of these antimicrobial-resistant organisms in BBQ rotisserie chicken.