Inspection for Fecal Contamination on Chicken Carcass Using Handheld Imaging Device

Current inspection regulations for screening of chicken carcasses for fecal contamination require human inspector to directly inspect the carcasses by naked eye. The chicken processing inspection environment may be illuminated at an intensity of up to 200 foot-candles. A portable fluorescence imaging device was developed to aid the human inspectors during chicken inspection. The device enhances the observable detection of chicken fecal material by using 405 nm excitation light to cause fecal fluorescence emissions near 636 and 680 nm. The objective of this study was to assess the usefulness of the recently developed portable fluorescence imaging device to detect fecal contamination of chicken carcasses under various luminous intensities. Fresh whole chickens were purchased from a local supermarket. Fresh fecal material was extracted from four sections (duodenum, small intestine, ceca, and colon) of the digestive tracts of 4-week-old broilers grown on corn and soybean meal in USDA farm facilities in Beltsville, MD. The fecal material was applied to the skin of the supermarket chickens to create visible and invisible areas of contamination, and detection of the contamination was tested using the portable device under five ambient lighting intensities (0, 10, 30, 50, and 70 foot candles). The portable device with 680 nm optical filter was able to definitively distinguish both visible and invisible contamination of all four types from the normal chicken skin under all tested lighting conditions in real time. The results demonstrate that this portable fluorescence imaging device can be used to assist human inspectors in detecting fecal contamination during poultry carcass inspection.