Effect of dietary commercially processed former foodstuffs on broiler meat microbiological quality, physico-chemical traits and shelf-life extension

This study evaluated the effects of replacing corn, soybean meal, and soybean oil with commercially processed former foodstuffs (cFF) in broiler diets on the microbiological and physico-chemical properties of chicken meat during refrigerated storage. Two hundred one-day-old male chicks (ROSS 308) were divided into four dietary groups: control (cFF0), 6.25 % cFF (cFF6.25), 12.5 % cFF (cFF12.5), and 25 % cFF (cFF25). At 33 days, 80 birds were slaughtered, and the left breast fillets analysed at 24 h post-mortem (T1) and after 3 (T2), 5 (T3), 7 (T4), and 9 (T5) days of refrigerated storage (4 ± 1 °C). From T3 to T5, TVC and B. thermosphacta counts resulted lower in cFF12.5 and cFF25 than in cFF0. Specifically, at T5, TVC counts were: cFF0=6.35, cFF12.5 = 5.86, and cFF25=4.99 Log CFU/g (P < 0.01). Similarly, for B. thermosphacta, the counts at T5 were: cFF0=5.12, cFF12.5 = 4.69 (P < 0.05), and cFF25=4.58 Log CFU/g (P < 0.01). At T5, Enterobacteriaceae counts were significantly lower in cFF12.5 than in cFF0 (P < 0.05). No significant differences were observed for Pseudomonas spp. For TVBN, cFF25 had a significantly lower value than all other groups at T3 (P = 0.009). At T5, the difference remained significant only compared to cFF0 (cFF0=19.02±0.41, cFF25=16.08±0.44 µg/g; P = 0.008). No differences were found in chemical composition or color, and no notable differences in aw or pH. These results suggest that incorporating up to 25 % cFF in broiler diets can improve microbiological quality of meat without affecting physico-chemical properties.