Objective To investigate the contamination of Salmonella in chicken during cultivation and slaughter process,and to find out the possible sources of infection.Methods Based on the Standard Operation Procedures in the handbook of National Surveillance on Foodborne Pathogenic Bacteria,210 anal swabs from living chicken and 204 samples from the meat of whole chicken were collected and analyzed for the contamination of Salmonella.Results Of the 210 anal swabs,23 Salmonella strains were isolated(detection rate 10.95%) and of the 204 whole chicken samples,71 Salmonella strains were isolated(detection rate 34.80%).The serotypes of Salmonella detected in anal swabs and whole chicken samples were different(χ2=15.7,P<0.001).There were 22 Salmonella Indianas isolated from 23 anal swabs,and 35 Salmonella Indianas and 22 Salmonella Albanies isolated from 71 whole chicken samples.Conclusion Positive detection rate of Salmonella from whole chicken samples was higher than that from anal swabs(χ2=33.5,P<0.001),the source of Salmonella in anal swabs and meat samples was different.Cross contamination may be existed in whole chicken meat samples.