IPB Professor: 45 Percent of Chicken Meat Contaminated with Salmonella

Now we are entering the era the emergence of new diseases and their ways to spread are also new. By the end of 2014, there are reports of new bacteria which contaminated apples imported from America and bacteria which contaminated melon from Australia. Those bacteria may cause mortality.

“Now we are facing the foodborne diseases. In the past, these bacteria were not found on fruits but in uncooked milk,” said Prof. Dr. Ir. Harsi Dewantari Kusumaningrum, Professor from Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) during press conference at IPB Baranangsiang Campus, Bogot (20/9). Prof. Hasri had performed Professor’s Scientific Oration on Saturday (22/9) at IPB Dramaga Campus, Bogor.

According to her, this era has not come to an end yet although its emergence has been long enough but up till now it is still continuing. The most salient in last ten years is the shifting from hazard controlling era to risk controlling. A hazard would not become a risk to our health if we are not exposed or the amount is not high enough so it is not risky.

“In the research we conducted, we discovered there are Salmonella in chicken meat, B. cereus in white rice, S. aureus in fast food chicken and many others. We often hear there are people got food poisoned from celebration events. From several reported studies, it turns out there is Salmonella in fried chicken,” she said.

The implementation of quantitative microbiology risk study in Indonesia is still limited and inelaborated. However, the approach applied in risk study of Salmonella in fried chicken is more elaborated.

From the result of survey that we conducted, to obtain estimation level of Salmonella contamination, after we traced down, someone who bought chicken will need time to get home. Then before the chicken is cooked, it will be stored first or will be precooked first, then be stored, to later be fried and served.

“In summary, the survey shows that 45 percent of our chicken meet is contaminated (before it ready to be consumed). This data was obtained from under-cooked meat (precooked for 45 minutes and fried for five minutes on medium fire). The estimation of probability someone has Salmonella infection is three out of 10 thousand people. However proper cooking process, either precooking or frying, also can be the stage of eliminating bacteria in chicken meat because of thermal inactivation,” she explained.

Risk reduction can be done by precooking the chicken with temperature of 70 degrees Celsius and maintaining it for 4.5 minutes. This scenario may give the estimation of probability of being infected by Salmonella is two out of 100 billion people.

“It’s meant that the chance become smaller. This study shows that with scenario analysis simulation, we can select the right scenario in reducing salmonellosis probability, that is improve precooking process by increasing internal temperature in chicken meat. By utilizing this qualitative study, we can educate people about what we are able to do. The point is the last protection is in household level,” she stated. (qa)