Samples were removed from storage at weekly intervals for up
to 5 weeks, then after 9 and 13 weeks. These samples were
enumerated as described above. A raw, uncooked sample and a
cooked untreated sample were also kept for 5 weeks before
enumeration.
The entire experiment was repeated on three separate
occasions.
Water activity (aw) and pH were measured in the raw chicken,
after the addition of lactate, after the addition of 1 ml of water (to
simulate addition of the inoculum) and again after cooking for each
of these. aw was measured (in triplicate) using a Rotronic aw meter
(Rotronic Hygrolab 3, Rotronic Instruments, Crawley, UK). To
measure the pH of the chicken, a 50:50 w/w mixture of the minced
chicken sample and distilled water was homogenised and the pH of
the resulting homogenate measured using a Jenway model 3505 pH
meter (Bibby Scientific, Stone, U.K.). All measurements were taken
on three separate occasions using three separate batches of
chicken