This document specifies a microbiological screening method comprising two procedures, which are carried out in parallel. It permits the identification of an unusual microbiological profile in poultry meat. The presence of a large excess population of dead micro-organisms can under certain circumstances be presumptive of irradiation treatment, which means, that the results of the procedure of the determination of endotoxin concentration in the test sample using the Limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) test and of the procedure of the enumeration of total Gram negative bacteria (GNB) in the test sample are not radiation specific. Therefore, it is recommended that a positive result be confirmed using a standardized reference method for the detection of irradiated food, e.g. EN 1784, EN 1785 or EN 1786 [1] to [3].
This screening method has been successfully tested by inter-laboratory trials [4], [5], [6] and the procedure is generally applicable to whole or parts of poultry, e.g. breast, legs, wings of fresh, chilled or frozen carcasses with or without skin.
The method can also provide information about the microbiological quality of a product prior to irradiation.