Ready-to-cook broiler chicken carcasses were obtained immediately postchill from a commercial processing plant. A control group was held at 4 C for 10 days. Test groups were held at 4 C for 2 days, temperature abused at 10, 15, or 20 C for 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, or 24 h, and then held at 4 C for an additional 4 days. Both control and test birds were sampled using whole carcass rinse techniques and bacteria enumerated using impedance detection times (DT) and total plate count (TPC) techniques at incubation temperatures of 18 and 42 C. The DT and TPC showed a significant increase (P less than .05) in the number of organisms recovered at 18 C but did not show a significant increase (P less than .05) in organisms recovered at 42 C when carcasses were held at 4 C continuously for up to 10 days. Carcasses that were temperature abused at 10 C for up to 24 h were not significantly different (P less than .05) from the unabused controls, using either DT or TPC, following incubation at 18 and 42 C. At an incubation temperature of 18 C, carcasses abused at 15 or 20 C had significantly more growth of bacteria than controls at 1, 6, 12, and 24 h and 4, 8, and 12 h as determined by DT and at 6, 12, and 24 h and 1, 2, 4, 8, and 12 h, respectively, as determined by TPC.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)