No viable CFU of a streptomycin-resistant S. typhimurium were detected on chicken wings inoculated with 100 CFU and treated with 1.8 kGy or greater doses of gamma radiation at 5-degrees-C in air. The inoculated S. typhimurium did not recover from radiation injury during 3 days of refrigerated storage. Viable CFU were detected on wings inoculated with 1,000 or 10,000 CFU and irradiated with 1.8 kGy but not on those irradiated with 2.7 or greater kGy. Thc indigenous aerobic mesophilic population on the wings was reduced from 10(4) to 44 CFU/cm2 by 1.4 kGy.