Influence of several methodological factors on the growth of Clostridium perfringens in cooling rate challenge studies

Journal of Food Protection
Sarah SmithDonald W Schaffner

Abstract

Proper temperature control is essential in preventing Clostridium perfringens food poisoning. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service cooling guidelines offer two options for the cooling of meat products: follow a standard time-temperature schedule or validate that alternative cooling regimens result in no more than a 1-log CFU/g increase of C. perfringens and no growth of Clostridium botulinum. The latter option requires laboratory challenge studies to validate the efficacy of a given cooling process. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to investigate the role of several methodological variables that might be encountered during typical C. perfringens challenge studies. Variables studied included plastic bag type (Whirlpak or Spiral Biotech), sealing method (Multivac or FoodSaver), initial spore inoculum size (1 to approximately 3 log CFU/g), and growth environment (ground beef or Trypticase-peptone-glucose-yeast extract [TPGY] broth). The major factors that affected growth were sample bag type and growth environment. Samples incubated in Whirlpak bags showed significantly less growth than those incubated in Spiral Biotech bags, which was likely due to the former bag's greater oxygen perme...Continue Reading

References

Nov 1, 1994·International Journal of Food Microbiology·P J McClureJ P Sutherland
Oct 8, 1999·Emerging Infectious Diseases·P S MeadR V Tauxe
Apr 26, 2002·Journal of Applied Microbiology·M L CaipoD W Schaffner
Jun 1, 1982·Journal of Food Protection·Ronald G Labbe, Kirk E Norris
Dec 1, 1994·Journal of Food Protection·Vijay K JunejaMiriam Cygnarowicz-Provost

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