United States Department of 

Agriculture

Food Safety and Inspection Service

Office of Policy and Program 

Development

Washington, DC 20250-3700

REGULATIONS AND DIRECTIVES DEVELOPMENT

Protocol for Evaluating Retained Water

in the Following Single Ingredient Poultry Product: Young 

Chicken Carcasses

Note: The following is an example protocol and should not to be used verbatim. Because 

each establishment is unique, each establishment should design their protocol to reflect the 

individual characteristics of their operations.

1.0 Purpose Statement

 1.1 The purpose of this protocol is to determine the amount of 

 water absorption and retention in young chicken carcasses

 that is unavoidable while achieving the regulatory pathogen

 reduction performance standard for Salmonella (as set forth

 in the PR/HACCP regulations – 9 CFR 381.94(b) and the

 time/temperature requirements set forth in 9 CFR 381.66.

2.0 Type of washing and chilling system

 2.1 The facility evisceration lines utilize a series of two pre-chiller

 external sprays, one inside-outside bird washer, immediately

 followed by the trisodium phosphate antimicrobial system.

 This is followed by a 60 second drip period prior to entering

 the cold-water chiller. The chiller is a Stork Gamco model

 RS-6 which uses a drag-through type mechanism to

 transport the birds through the chiller. It has a prechiller

 section, which receives water from the main body of the

 chiller. Chilled water from the fresh and recirculated sources

 is added.

3.0 Configuration and modification of the chiller system 

 components
 3.1 The prechiller length is 50 feet with a dwell time of 20 

 minutes. The main chiller length is 100 feet with a dwell time

 of 45 minutes. The number of evisceration lines feeding into

 the chiller system is 2.

4.0 Special features in the chilling process:

4.1 The chiller uses chlorine as an antimicrobial at 20 PPM.

 After existing the chiller system the birds are placed on a

 drip line that is 100 feet in length and drains the whole

 carcasses for 5 minutes before reaching whole carcass

 packaging.

5.0 Variable factors that affect water absorption and retention

5.1 The scalding temperature used is approximately 138° F. The

 birds are in the chiller system for 65 minutes. The water

 temperature of the pre-chiller is 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The

 water temperature in the main chiller is 36 degrees

 Fahrenheit. The chiller uses air type agitation.

6.0 Standards to be met by the chilling system:

 6.1 The current FSIS Salmonella pathogen reduction

 performance standards, as set forth in the PR/HACCP final

 rule, will be met.

7.0 Testing methodology

 7.1 Water absorption and retention

 7.1.1 Samples will be collected immediately prior to the 

 two pre-chiller rinses on the evisceration line.

 7.1.1.1 *(insert number) random A-grade

 carcasses will be tagged and weighed in

*(insert number) groups of *(insert

number) carcasses. The *(insert number)

groups will be distributed evenly

throughout the production period

(beginning, middle, and end) with the

production period being defined as

sanitation to sanitation.
 7.1.2 Samples will be collected from carcasses at point of

 packaging.

 7.1.2.1 The tagged carcasses from 7.1.1.1 will be

 weighed immediately prior to packaging.

 7.1.2.2 These postchiller weights will be

 compared to the pre-chiller weights to

 determine the retained water gained using

a mathematical difference calculation

(prepackaging weight minus pre-chiller

 weight) as a percentage.

7.2 Pathogen reduction measurement

 7.2.1 *(insert number) groups of *(insert number) carcasses will

 be randomly selected post-chiller from the same flocks as

 those tested in Section 7.1. The *(insert number) groups

 will be distributed evenly throughout the production period

 (beginning, middle, and end) with the production period

 being defined as sanitation to sanitation.

 7.2.1.1 The percent salmonella positive rate will be

 determined using the post-chiller carcass rinse

 salmonella performance standard methodology.

7.3 Evaluation of chiller factors

 7.3.1 Water temperature

 7.3.1.1 Two chiller settings will be evaluated.

 7.3.1.1.1 Temperature setting of 36°F

 7.3.1.1.2 Temperature setting of 39°F

 7.3.2 Air agitation

 7.3.2.1 Two chiller settings will be evaluated.

 7.3.2.1.1 Air agitation setting of 80 RPM

 7.3.2.1.2 Air agitation setting of 40 RPM

 7.3.3 Study design
 7.3.3.1 A two-by-two factorial table will be used to

 evaluate the effect of these chiller settings on the

 percent moisture retention (Section 7.1) and on

 the pathogen reduction measurements (Section

 7.2).

 7.3.3.2 Each of the four chiller setting combinations will

 be evaluated for three processing periods (defined

 as sanitation to sanitation). Each processing

 period will be considered a replicate.

8.0 Evaluation and Reporting of Data

8.1 The results achieved from the three replicates per chiller 

 setting combination will be averaged and reported as the final

 result for each chiller setting combination.

 8.1.1 Carcass weight differences will be determined using a

 mathematical difference calculation (prepackaging

 weight minus pre-chiller weight) for each carcass

 group resulting in recorded weight difference results.

 The weight difference obtained per carcass group will

 be divided by the pre-chiller wash weight per carcass

 group to determine the % moisture retention 

 prepackaging per group. The results will be averaged

 to obtain the estimated average % moisture retention

 at point of packaging.

 8.1.2 The salmonella data will be reported as the number

 of positive samples/number of samples tested x 100

 (% positive).

9.0 Explanation of how the conclusions will be determined.

 9.1 Conclusions will be determined by comparing the baseline

 pathogen reduction levels achieved pre-protocol

 implementation with the post-protocol implementation

 pathogen reduction results. This comparison will be evaluated

 according to the specifications detailed in section 6.1.

 9.2 The amount of moisture retention that is unavoidable to

 achieve the above food safety criteria will be reported.

(*) Each establishment should insert statistically significant and verifiable information that 

reflects their unique operations.
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Food Safety and Inspection Service

Regulations and Directives Development Staff

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Last modified: February 09, 2004