The presence of the microbial organisms in food products during the production, storage, transport, and packaging is unavoidable. Therefore, the knowledge of the microbial growth behavior is very important for the food safety and shelf life assessment. In this work, a chicken supply chain was simulated for raw, salted, and cooked chicken breasts for 20 days at -18 ± 0.5 ºC (simulation of industry expedition in Brazil and transport by ship to Europe) and for defrosted chicken breasts for 21 days at 4 ± 0.5 ºC (simulation of the shelf life in supermarket). The products were analyzed for Pseudomonas spp., Salmonella spp., Lysteria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus spp. and total viable counts (mesophilic and psicrotrophic microorganisms). The counting plate analyses were followed by classical biochemical tests for typical colonies confirmation. None of the samples was positive for Salmonella spp. and Lysteria monocytogenes. In terms of total viable colonies counting, during the first 20 days (-18 ºC), the presence of microorganisms was kept stable at low levels of detection. After defrosting, microbial growth curves were observed. According to the safety parameters, 9 to 11 days at 4 ºC proved the best time limit to guarantee the quality of those products
chicken breast; supply chain; microbiology; simulation; shelf life
