Bacterial contamination on rubber picker fingers before, during, and after processing.

Numbers of bacteria on rubber picker fingers collected from processing plants for 3 industrial processors were assessed in 3 separate trials for each plant. After 5 d in use, picker fingers were removed from the front, center, and back of an inline picker, including locations to the right and left of the processing line. Assessment indicated that the levels of bacteria present immediately after processing vary widely. Bacterial density on picker finger sections ranged from log(10) cfu = 0 to 5.41 in 2 of the 3 processing plants from which picker fingers were obtained. Higher counts (ranging from log(10) cfu = 3.23 to 7.33) were assessed on picker fingers from a third plant. The effect of location of fingers in the picker machine on bacterial counts was tested in 2 trials at each of 2 processing plants. There was no difference between the counts on fingers collected from the right or left of the picker machine for either plant. There was a difference (P < 0.05) among the counts on fingers collected in the forward direction, from front, center, and exit end, for 1 of the plants. No bacterial growth occurred in samples from new rubber picker fingers obtained from any of the processors. On rubber fingers with initially lower bacterial counts, microbial growth increased when incubated without additional disinfectant treatment. The bacterial population on used fingers incubated for 3 d significantly increased (P < 0.05) above that of bacteria on inline fingers. These results indicate that intervention early in the picking process could enhance sanitation practices and pathogen control.