Sample Preparation and Inoculation

Samples were prepared from 100% all-natural (non-enhanced) chicken drumsticks and breast fillets purchased from a retail store. The skin samples from drumsticks were separated from the underlying muscle and cut into 1 square inch pieces using a sterile scalpel (Nair and Kollanoor Johny, 2017b). Breast fillets were also aseptically cut into 2 g pieces using a sterile scalpel (Wagle et al., 2017). Both skin and meat samples were first sterilized by UV light for 5 min to eliminate background microorganisms before inoculation. Each skin or meat sample was spot inoculated with 50 µl of the inoculum containing 4 log₁₀ CFU S. Heidelberg 1904. The samples were subsequently kept under the biosafety cabinet at room temperature for 30 min to facilitate Salmonella attachment.