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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 #390052
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: Clostridium perfringens

Author
item GARCIA, S - Universidad Autonoma De Nuevo Leon
item LABBE, R - University Of Massachusetts, Amherst
item Juneja, Vijay

Submitted to: Meat Science
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/5/2022
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Clostridium perfringens is recognized as one of the major causes of foodborne disease. The pathogen grows between 15 to 50 °C, pH values between 6.0 and 7.0, and the minimum water activity that will permit growth is between 0.93 and 0.97. Under ideal conditions, certain isolates possess a generation time of less than ten minutes. The illness results from ingestion of temperature-abused foods containing large numbers of vegetative cells which sporulate in the intestine and produce an enterotoxin. The symptoms of the gastroenteritis are usually mild and rarely fatal; however, owing to its high incidence this condition is a substantial public health concern. The best way of preventing C. perfringens gastroenteritis is to follow proper control measures in food preparation, food storage, and temperature controls. This includes preparing meat and poultry dishes shortly before they are served, and by adequate rate and extent of cooling, refrigeration, and reheating of cooked products.