Psychrotrophic Clostridium spp. associated with ‘blown pack’ spoilage of chilled vacuum-packed red meats and dog rolls in gas-impermeable plastic casings

Abattoir sources of psychrophilic clostridia causing blown pack spoilage of vacuum-packed chilled meats determined by culture-based and molecular detection procedures

“…gasigenes were isolated from only six of 13 samples that tested positive with DNA-based procedures. It is likely that the low cultural detection rate of blown pack-causing clostridia demonstrated in this study reflects the commonly experienced difficulties with the conventional isolation of psychrophilic and psychrotolerant clostridia (Dainty et al 1989;Kalchayanand et al 1989;Broda et al 1996). Surprisingly, Cl.…”

“…The reference strain of Clostridium gasigenes DB1A T (DSM 12272 T ) was the original New Zealand strain obtained from an incident of blown pack spoilage of chilled vacuum-packed lamb (Broda et al 2000). Clostridium estertheticum-like strains K21 and K24 were isolated using methods described previously (Broda et al 1996). All strains were maintained as described previously (Broda et al 2000).…”

“…(Dainty et al 1989;Kalchayanand et al 1989;Broda et al 1996). Currently, it is believed that the frequency and severity of commercial incidents of blown pack spoilage could be minimized, among others, by removing the abattoir source(s) of psychrophilic clostridia and/or by limiting transfer of these clostridia from their abattoir source(s) onto carcasses.…”

Clostridium difficile in Food and Animals: A Comprehensive Review

“…One of the key features of C. difficile in foods is if the pathogen grows or resides in the dormant state, especially if there are anaerobic conditions and the cool chain is not respected. C. difficile has been reported in vacuumpackaged meat in France (Bouttier et al 2010) and in New Zealand, where the bacterium was isolated from chilled vacuum-packed meats in which 'blown pack' spoilage had been observed (Broda et al 1996). The impact of C. difficile survival in these storage conditions clearly demands further study.…”

Clostridium algidixylanolyticum sp. nov., a psychrotolerant, xylan-degrading, spore-forming bacterium.

“…Characteristics of recently described psychrotolerant Clostridium spp. associated with vacuum-packed meats (Collins et al, 1992 ;Kalchayanand et al, 1993 ; D. M. Broda and others Lawson et al, 1994 ;Broda et al, 1996) indicate that this group of clostridia may contain metabolically and phylogenetically diverse organisms. During investigations of ' blown-pack ' spoilage of vacuum-packed lamb, a psychrotolerant, xylan-degrading Clostridium species was isolated.…”