Microbiological condition and shelf life of meat from hunted game birds

Hunted game birds (eight partridges, nine wood pigeons, 25 quails, 16 chilled and 16 frozen-thawed pheasants) were processed according to ``Good Manufacturing Practice{''} rules. Microflora of skin, intestinal content and meat cuts (breast and thigh, both fresh and stored in vacuum package) was analysed. Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella sp. and Campylobacter sp. were not recovered from any sample. Log microbial numbers on skin or in intestines were not significantly related to those on meat cuts. With the exception of pigeons, microbial numbers of the two meat cuts did not differ significantly (p > 0.05), and no significant increase in microbial numbers in vacuum-stored meat was found; the same applied to frozen-thawed compared to chilled pheasants. On meat, average total viable counts were < 4.00 log cfu/cm(2) with a maximum of 6.48 log cfu/cm(2). Median Escherichia coli numbers were < 2.00 log cfu/cm(2), maximum was 4.48 log cfu/cm(2). Meat cuts obtained from partridges, quails and pheasants demonstrated a shelf life of 1 week, provided they were kept vacuum-packaged at 0A degrees C to 1A degrees C.