Persistence of Escherichia coli in a poultry processing plant

Poultry processing plant equipment was sampled for Escherichia coli either sequentially during single processing runs or once weekly for 6 weeks. The biotyping of the isolations revealed a heterogeneous E. coli population. The majority of biotypes were identified on one occasion only and never on more than three occasions under both sampling regimes. Although a proportion of the biotypes were recovered from equipment after cleaning, it was concluded that thorough cleaning and disinfection procedures should control E. coli contamination of slaughterhouse equipment.