Chicken skin is considered the most susceptible to bacterial contamination during slaughter. It is rich in bushy feather follicles with complex internal structures that can absorb bacteria via cross-contamination during slaughter. Until now, the microstructural changes and local bacterial composition of feather follicles during slaughter have not been thoroughly investigated. This study used hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining of the tissue paraffin section to investigate the structure of the feather follicles on chicken skin. In addition, the biopsy sampling method was employed for the high-throughput sequencing of 16S RNA genes to study the composition and source of bacterial contamination during slaughter. The results show that the feather follicles on chicken skin form a closed cavity structure during the slaughtering process. The volume of the irregular follicle cavity was about Ø: 200 μm × D: 1040 μm, which provides a place for the bacteria to absorb and resist the cleaning and disinfection during the slaughtering process. The composition of bacteria in the feather follicle was mainly Acinetobacter (37%), Psychrobacter (8%), Macrococcus (5%), and Comamonas (2%). The heat map obtained via the species abundance analysis of the feather follicle samples as well as the slaughter environment samples suggests that the gastrointestinal feces contaminated the feather follicles on the chicken skin mainly during the evisceration, defeathering, and chilling processes, and the last-stage chilling water also caused severe cross-contamination to the feather follicles during the chilling process.

在屠宰过程中，鸡皮被认为最容易受到细菌污染。它富含具有复杂内部结构的浓密羽毛毛囊，可以在屠宰过程中通过交叉污染吸收细菌。到目前为止，尚未对屠宰过程中羽毛毛囊的微观结构变化和局部细菌组成进行深入研究。这项研究使用组织石蜡切片的苏木精-伊红（HE）染色来研究鸡皮肤上的毛囊结构。此外，活检采样方法用于16S RNA基因的高通量测序，以研究屠宰过程中细菌污染的组成和来源。结果表明，在宰杀过程中，鸡皮上的毛囊形成了一个封闭的空腔结构。不规则卵泡腔的体积约为Ø：200μm×D：1040μm，这为宰杀过程中细菌吸收和抵抗清洁消毒提供了场所。羽毛毛囊中细菌的组成主要是不动杆菌 （37％）， 精神细菌 （8％）， 大球菌 （5％），和 昏迷（2％）。通过对羽毛卵泡样本和屠宰环境样本的物种丰富度分析获得的热图表明，胃肠道的粪便主要在去内脏，脱皮和冷冻过程以及最后阶段污染了鸡皮上的羽毛卵泡。冷冻水在冷冻过程中还会对羽毛毛囊造成严重的交叉污染。