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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Microbial and Chemical Food Safety » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #385712
Research Project: Development and Validation of Predictive Models and Pathogen Modeling Programs; and Data Acquisition for International Microbial Databases

Location: Microbial and Chemical Food Safety

Title: Predictive model for growth of Clostridium botulinum from spores during cooling of cooked ground chicken

Author
item Juneja, Vijay
item XU, XINRAN - University Of Georgia
item Osoria, Marangeli
item GLASS, KATHLEEN - University Of Wisconsin
item SCHILL, KRISTIN - University Of Wisconsin
item GOLDEN, MAX - University Of Wisconsin
item SCHAFFNER, DONALD - Rutgers University
item DEVKUMAR, GOVINDARAJ - University Of Georgia
item DUNN, LAUREL - University Of Georgia
item JADEJA, RAVI - Oklahoma State University
item SHRESTHA, SUBHASH - Cargill, Incorporated
item MISHRA, ABHINAV - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: Food Research International
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/31/2021
Publication Date: 9/3/2021
Citation: Juneja, V.K., Xu, X., Osoria, M., Glass, K.A., Schill, K.M., Golden, M., Schaffner, D.W., Devkumar, G., Dunn, L., Jadeja, R., Shrestha, S., Mishra, A. 2021. Predictive model for growth of Clostridium botulinum from spores during cooling of cooked ground chicken. Poultry Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2021.110695.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2021.110695

Interpretive Summary: The disease, botulism, caused by the Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin is a serious public health concern. We investigated the growth of this pathogen in ground chicken and used a mathematical model to estimate growth in chicken. A validated dynamic model was developed to estimate the growth at temperatures relevant to food processing operations. The model will assist food industry and regulatory agencies to evaluate risk of C. botulinum growth in chicken during processing, transportation, distribution and storage.

Technical Abstract: Cooking temperature of poultry meat is typically inadequate to inactivate the heat resistant spores of Clostridium botulinum. The purpose of this study is to develop a predictive model for C. botulinum during cooling of cooked ground chicken. Cooked chicken was inoculated with a cocktail of five strains of proteolytic C. botulinum type A and five strains of proteolytic C. botulinum type B to yield a final spore concentration of approximately 2 log CFU/g. The growth of C. botulinum was determined at constant temperatures from 10 to 46C. Dynamic temperature experiments were performed with continued cooling from 54.4 to 4.4C or 7.2C in mono- or bi-phasic cooling profiles, respectively. The Baranyi primary model was used to fit growth data and the modified Ratkowsky secondary model was used to fit growth rates with respect to temperature. All primary models fitted the growth data well (R2 values ranging from 0.811 to 0.988). The R2 and root mean square error (RMSE) of the modified Ratkowsky secondary model were 0.95 and 0.06, respectively. Out of 11 prediction error values calculated in this study, ten were within the limit of acceptable prediction zone (-1.0 to 0.5), indicating a good fit of the model. The predictive model will assist institutional food service operations in determining the safety of cooked ground chicken subjected to different cooling periods.