## 1 Introduction  
Poultry meat contains significantly less fat, cholesterol, and protein than meat from other slaughtered animals. In addition, it is characterized by its versatility in culinary use, which has contributed to the increase in its consumption. Poultry products must meet food safety criteria. A constant threat to poultry meat is its contamination with the genera _Salmonella_ and _Campylobacter_ pathogenic bacteria. Given this, a system has been developed to monitor the safety of poultry products at the various stages of their formation and processing (from breeding to final products) and by all participants in these processes [1, 2]. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) with elevated CO\({}_{2}\) levels (20-62% CO\({}_{2}\), balanced with N\({}_{2}\) and low or no O\({}_{2}\)) has been shown to substantially extend the shelf life of poultry meat--including ground, raw, and precooked chicken--while preserving color and texture and controlling microbial populations such as _Pseudomonas_, coliforms, and mesophilic bacteria. For example, CO\({}_{2}\) concentrations of 40% in MAP packaging of chicken fillets effectively doubled shelf life at refrigeration temperatures by inhibiting the growth of spoilage bacteria without promoting pathogens. In precooked chicken fillets, MAP formulations with 40-60% CO\({}_{2}\) extended shelf life from ~5 days (air-packaged) to at least 35-65 days under refrigerated storage, demonstrating significant shelf life improvements [3; 4; 5]. The hygiene of the process or technological irregularities, and also the risks to consumer safety, necessitate the examination of the level of microbiological contamination of raw materials and final products. Microbiological analysis of raw material or product includes determining the presence of pathogenic microorganisms that cause food poisoning and determining the number of non-pathogenic microorganisms that may be responsible for the deterioration of taste and odor characteristics, resulting in product spoilage. However, traditional methods are time-consuming and costly [6]. As a result, new methods are being explored to enable microbiological diagnostics in a much shorter time and with lower costs. A good solution being researched may be methods based on the relationship between the metabolism of microorganisms and the energy they produce. The metabolism of any living organism, including microorganisms, constantly transforms matter and energy, i.e., the processing of nutrients necessary for cell growth and proliferation. Metabolism involves two opposing processes, anabolism and catabolism, but due to the possibility of measuring the energy emitted as a result of a microorganism's activity, catabolic transformations are of greater importance [7; 8; 9]. However, most energy released during catabolic transformations goes as heat. During both aerobic respiration and fermentation processes, about 1/4-1/3 of the energy is lost through dissipation. The dissipated heat is emitted in relatively small portions, so it does not significantly increase the environment's temperature. However, significant local temperature increases are observed when bacterial growth occurs in insulated environments, where heat loss is negligible due to weak convection and impeded radiation. In this case, temperature measurement followed by determination of the amount of energy released becomes a viable tool for detecting and quantifying the number of microorganisms [10]. Through thermal imaging with devices such as thermal cameras, it is possible to record the infrared spectrum, which is invisible to the human eye, and to measure and compare the thermal energy values emitted by the objects under study [11]. Modern microbial detection methods have significantly enhanced diagnostic speed and sensitivity through innovative technologies.