An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Inactivation of Clostridium Botulinum Spores by High Pressure Processing (HPP)

Objective

The objectives of this project are to inactivate spores of C. botulinum type A and nonproteolytic type B strains in a model food system, to determine D- and Zp- values of spores of C. botulinum type E strains in a model phosphate buffer system during HPP, and to evaluate the effect of pressure (up to 827 MPa) and temperature (up to 120?C) on inactivation of spores of C. botulinum types A and B in a model buffer system as well as a low-acid food product.

More information

Recently, use of HPP as a food processing method became a subject of renewed interest because it can be used to inactivate microorganisms in certain foods or food ingredients without a decrease in product quality. There are no published reports on the resistance of C. botulinum spores to HPP. Biological validation of a HPP process can be very time consuming. There is a need for a kinetic based process delivery calculation procedure. Process establishment would then be a function of process conditions and the resistance of the appropriate organism of concern. Previously we studied the effect of pressure. temperature, and time on inactivation of C. botulinum types A and E and nonproteolytic type B spores in phosphate buffer (pH 7.0). Results of this study will benefit the FDA, industry, and NCFST in the application of HPP for inactivation of C. botulinum spores in various low-acid foods and food ingredients potential increase in the production of safe extended shelf stable foods with improved product quality, appearance, and nutritive value. This research will compliment existing C-FAR competitive grants project on 'High Isostatic Pressure inactivation of Selected Food Spoilage Microorganisms'.

Investigators
Reddy, Rukma
Institution
National Center for Food Safety & Technology
Start date
1995
End date
2000
Project number
SA-0008-10/95
Categories