Bacterial pathogens, such as Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter, continue to be the leading suspected causes of foodborne illnesses from poultry products today. Currently, multiple intervention strategies in processing help reduce and eliminate these pathogens, with one fast becoming dominate over the others: peracetic acid (PAA). This article serves as an overview of the chemistry and interaction of PAA with materials common to poultry-processing plants.
This is by no means an exhaustive description of PAA, but serves as a brief introduction.