The aim of the present study was to evaluate the use of different analytical units and the influence of storage under refrigeration on the detection of <em>Salmonella sp</em>. in naturally contaminated poultry carcasses. One hundred and thirty samples were collected during the production process soon after chilling (postchiller phase). Fifty-five samples were analyzed in up to 2 h after collection and 65 samples were analyzed after 72 h of storage. Pathogen screening was based on three different analytical units and a comparison was made between them. Carcasses were initially rinsed with 400 mL of diluent, and three different analytical units were incubated: total rinsing volume (TRV), a single 30 mL aliquot of the rinsing volume, and 25 g of skin from different areas of the carcass. Of all samples analyzed, 60% were positive for <em>Salmonella sp</em>. From the samples collected at the post-chiller phase, 57% were positive for the pathogen and 52.31% of these were detected by TRV; a better statistical performance (P&lt;0.05) when compared to the other analytical units. Of the refrigerated samples, 63% were contaminated, but there were no significant differences between analytical units (P&gt;0.05). There were no significant differences between the number of positive samples from the post-chiller phase and after 72 h of refrigeration. It was also seen that the use of different analytical units (one for the post-chiller phase and another for the refrigerated samples) in samples coming from the same production lot may give different results.