Botulism

Microbial growth and its control in meat, poultry and fish

“…The disease is caused by neurotoxins formed in the food (traditional botulism) or in the intestine (infant botulism). Proper refrigeration should inhibit the proteolytic strains of this anaerobic bacterium, while non-proteolytic strains grow at refrigeration (3.3°C) temperatures (Sugiyama and Sofos, 1988).…”

Clostridium botulinumandClostridium tetani

“…This grouping is also supported by metabolic and structural properties including nutritional requirements (Belokopytov et al 1982;Kindler et al 1956;Mager et al 1954;Malizio et al 1993;Patterson-Curtis and Johnson 1992;Whitmer and Johnson 1988), resistance to salt and acidity and other environmental and food components (Anniballi et al 2002;Glass and Johnson 2001;Hammer and Johnson 1988;Hutchinson 1992;Odlaug and Pflug 1978;Ohye and Scott 1957;Raatjes and Smelt 1979;Lynt et al 1982;Sugiyama and Sofos 1988;Townsend et al 1954), spore heat resistance and germination properties (Broussolle et al 2002;Ito et al 1968;Lund and Peck 2000;Lynt et al 1975;Scott and Bernard 1982;Setlow and Johnson 2001), tolerance to air (Meyer 1924;Whiting and Naftulin 1992), minimum growth temperature (Eklund et al 1976;Smith and Sugiyama 1988), endproduct formation (Mead 1971;Moore et al 1966;Moss et al 1970Moss et al , 1980Oguma et al 1986;Smith and Sugiyama 1988), and toxin regulation. The four groups also have distinctive surface antigen relationships (Batty and Walker 1966;Hatheway 1983, 1984a, b;Lynt et al 1967;Solomon et al 1969Solomon et al , 1971…”

“…Fungi can catabolize organic acids in certain foods such as tomatoes (Huhtanen et al 1976;Meyer and Gunnison 1929;Pflug 1978, 1979), raising the pH and enabling C. botulinum to grow in foods that had an initial pH less than 4.6. Acidification of a food can require several days for acid to equilibrate throughout the food (Sugiyama and Sofos 1988). The minimum A w for growth of Group I C. botulinum is 0.94, or a brine content of 10 percent.…”

“…As with the other environmental constraints, only rare strains will grow at A w 0.94. Environmental constraints interact, and inhibitory conditions can be obtained in foods by combining subinhibitory levels of pH, salt, and other factors such as preservatives (Lynt et al 1982;Glass and Johnson 2001;Rhodehamel et al 1992;Sugiyama and Sofos 1988). The critical level of oxygen that will permit growth of group I C. botulinum is 1-2 percent (Meyer 1924;Whiting and Naftulin 1992), but this depends on other conditions such as A w and pH.…”

“…The required treatment for achieving F 0 of a food from C. botulinum spores is c. 3 min at 121 C or higher (Setlow and Johnson 2001). The commercial processing of certain foods is less than a F 0 of 3 min since other factors control their safety from C. botulinum Sugiyama and Sofos 1988). Although used as a surrogate, caution must be exercised in concluding that growth of C. sporogenes in foods and its resistance properties will be identical to group I C. botulinum.…”