A `CHICKEN CARWASH' : FIRM FIGURES OUT WAY TO KILL POULTRY BACTERIA.

Byline: Jeanne Lang Eastside Journal

Alcide Corp.'s eccentric set-up appealed strongly to former Holly Farms chief executive Ken May, a poultry industry consultant who is also the spokesperson for the National Broiler Council.

May said he agreed to join Alcide's board of directors and act as a consultant because, ``It was an intriguing business that seemed unique to me.''

May is helping Alcide figure out how to market its ``chicken carwash'' that can kill most microorganisms on up to 140 bird carcasses a minute. An outside engineering company also is working with Alcide to perfect the device.

Industry interest in Alcide's disinfectant device is high.

Meatpacking plants are facing a new set of USDA guidelines that require plants to reduce bacterial contamination on animal carcasses below the present industry average or risk being shut down.

``It's a very mean rule so the industry is very interested in any kind of intervention strategy that reduces E. coli and salmonella,'' May said.

Reduced contaminants also could translate into longer shelf life for meats. That would allow packers to ship fresh meats and fish - which fetch higher prices than frozen products - longer distances.

Four poultry companies have installed Alcide's cleansing system in their plants as part of a Phase II pilot test. If these companies decide to buy it, Alcide will have captured 40 percent of the market right out of the gate, Alcide chief executive Joseph Sasenick said. That's because the poultry business is highly concentrated with 21 companies controlling 80 percent of the market.

With 8 billion chickens consumed in this country each year, Sasenick estimates the poultry disinfectant market in the United States alone is worth about $56 million. The market worldwide is three times as large.

Alcide plans to establish itself in poultry, then move on to processors of beef, fish and shellfish.

The biotech company also might find a market among fruit and vegetable processors, with the recent outbreak of E. coli being blamed on apple juice.

Even though Alcide could become a big player in the food industry if its product is approved, the biotech has attracted scant attention on Wall Street.

``It's a huge potential market and something that's gone almost completely unnoticed in the financial community,'' said Ken Trbovitch, securities analyst for the Red Chip Review stock newsletter.

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Photo

Photo: Joseph Sasenick, chief executive of Alcide Corp., is trying to market his ``chicken carwash.''

Associated Press