Abstract
A total of 100 random samples of freshly slaughtered chicken including, (50 breast and 50 thighs) were collected from poultry shops at Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate for detection of Enteropathogenic E. coli. In addition, an experiment was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of addition of garlic powder as natural preservatives to control the contamination of chicken meat with Enteropathogenic E. coli. It was recorded that the prevalence of E. coli in breast samples (32%) was higher than that of thigh samples (18%). It was noticed that the E. coli count showed an increasing manner by time passing in the control group that did not treated with garlic powder (1×108 cfu/g at zero time till reach 8×1012 cfu/g after 96 hours). Concerning the treated groups, addition of garlic powder by 2% resulted in decrease of E. coli count (R% = 98%) after 2 hours (2×106 cfu/g) then the R% increased to 99.99% after 24 hours (1×105 cfu/g), 99.98% after 48 hours (2×104 cfu/g) and 99.96% after 72 hours (4×104 cfu/g). On contrary, R % of E. coli count decreased to 94% after 96 hours (6×106 cfu/g). At the same time, addition of garlic powder by 2.5% concentration resulted in decrease of E. coli count (R% = 99%) after 2 hours (1×106 cfu/g) then R% increased to 99.91% after 24 hours (9×104 cfu/g), 99.99% after 48 hours (7×103 cfu/g) and 99.99% after 72 hours (4×103 cfu/g). On contrary, the R% of E. coli count decreased to 99% after 96 hours (9×105 cfu/g). On the other side, addition of garlic powder by 3% concentration resulted in decrease of E. coli count (R% = 99%) after 2 hours (1×106 cfu/g) then R % increased to 99.87% after 24 hours (1.3×105 cfu/g), 99.99% after 48 hours (1.5×104 cfu/g) then slightly decreased to 99.97% after 72 hours (3×104 cfu/g). On contrary, R % of E. coli count decreased to 91% after 96 hours (9×106 cfu/g). Finally, it was clear that addition of garlic powder by concentration of 2.5 and 3% had more pronounced effect on inhibition of bacterial growth compared to 2% concentration especially after 72 hours.

Key words: E. coli, Chicken, Garlic powder, Preservation