Abstract:The traditional culture method combined with high-throughput DNA sequencing was used to analyze changes in the bacterial quantity and community composition with each step in the processing of pickled chicken feet, to determine the main contamination sources and microbial compositions during the process. Sample Y5 (indicative of the slicing step) experiences the most contamination, with the total number of colonies in the sample increasing to 2.20×104 CFU/g. The total number of colonies (30 CFU/g) in sample Y9 (representing the vacuum packaging step) is higher than those of samples Y7 and Y8, and the bacterial diversity in Y9 is the highest (Shannon=7.82). The vacuum packaging process may cause some product contamination. Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Psychrobacter are the dominant bacteria in the processing of pickled chicken feet, with average relative abundance values of 21.50%, 9.29% and 5.99%, respectively. The relatively abundant bacteria genera in Y10 (end-product after sterilization by irradiation) include Acinetobacter (3.23%), Serratia (4.86%), Staphylococcus (6.26%) and Bacillus (4.59%), which produce various proteases and lipases. Some of these genera also include pathogenic strains, which may raise quality and safety concerns for products during storage and sale. These research results contribute to deeper understanding of the microbial community compositions during pickled chicken feet processing, and can provide a theoretical basis guiding efforts to prevent and control microbial food contamination and improve product quality and safety.
