Handling and consumption of
Campylobacter
-contaminated poultry meat is the most common cause of human campylobacteriosis. While many studies deal with interventions to reduce
Campylobacter
spp. on chicken carcasses, studies on other poultry species are rare. In the present study, a spray treatment with peracetic acid (PAA) on turkey carcasses was evaluated. For this, parts of breast fillets with skin and
Campylobacter
(
C
.)
jejuni
DSM 4688 (10
8
cfu/ml) inoculated drumsticks were sprayed for 30 s with PAA (1200 ppm) or water as control solution. Samples were packaged under modified atmosphere and stored at 4°C until analysis on day 1, 6 and 12. The breast fillets were used for determination of the total viable count, sensory and meat quality examination as well as myoglobin content and biogenic amines. The drumsticks were used for
C
.
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counts. PAA had a significant effect in reducing total viable counts on all days by up to 1.2 log
10
compared to the untreated control. Treatment with water alone showed no effect.
C
.
jejuni
counts were significantly reduced by PAA (0.9–1.3 log
10
), while water achieved a 0.5 log
10
reduction on
C
.
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counts on day 1. No differences in sensory, pH, electrical conductivity and myoglobin content could be found. The skin of the PAA treated fillets had lower redness values than the water control on day 1, whereas on day 12 parts of the water treated muscles were lighter than the untreated control. A lower putrescine content of the water sprayed fillets in comparison to the control sample on day 12 was the only significant difference concerning the biogenic amines. Results from this study indicate that a spray treatment with 1200 ppm PAA would be a useful measure to lower the
Campylobacter
spp. counts on turkey carcasses without having a negative influence on product quality.