Bacteria in feather follicles? - Science Update - Brief Article

Agricultural Research, May, 2003 by R. Jeffrey Buhr

For years, it's been assumed that bacteria enter empty feather follicles during poultry processing. Scientists have investigated ways to cleanse the follicles of potentially harmful microbes. But recently, they found that the amount of bacteria present on poultry skin is basically the same--with or without empty feather follicles.

To see this, the researchers first had to breed featherless chickens with commercial broiler breeders. Using artificial insemination, they propagated offspring that would produce both feathered and featherless broilers that would grow to comparable size in the same length of time. One week before processing, the birds were all given Campylobacter orally. They were then slaughtered and defeathered. Examination of the breast skin under sterile conditions revealed no significant differences between feathered and featherless carcasses in the levels of Campylobacter, Escherichia coli, and total aerobic bacteria present. R. Jeffrey Buhr, USDA-ARS Poultry Processing and Meat Quality Research Unit, Athens, Georgia; phone (706) 546-3339, e-mail jbuhr@saa.ars.usda.gov.