An Evaluation of Sporicidal Treatments against Blown Pack Spoilage Associated Clostridium estertheticum and Clostridium gasigenes Spores

Eden Esteves,Leonard Koolman,Tanushree B Gupta,Paul Whyte,Declan Bolton

doi:10.3390/app12031663

Abstract

Blown pack spoilage (BPS) occurs when meat is cross-contaminated with Clostridium estertheticum or Clostridium gasigenes spores, often from the meat processing environment. This study tested the efficacy of four sporicidal disinfectants commonly used in beef processing plants against C. estertheticum and C. gasigenes spores in a suspension test. D-values were obtained under model ‘clean’ (sterile distilled water, SDW) and ‘dirty’ (3 g/L bovine serum albumin, BSA) conditions. Mean concentration (log10 CFU/mL) were calculated from direct counts. The levels of dipicolinic acid (DPA), indicating damage to the core of these spores, was also monitored using a terbium (Tb)-DPA assay for treatment 1 (peracetic acid as the active ingredient) in SDW and BSA. In SDW sporicidal treatment 3 (containing peroxymonosulphate) was the most effective against C. estertheticum spores but under ‘dirty’ (BSA) conditions sporicidal treatments 1 and 2 were more effective. A similar pattern was obtained with C. gasigenes with treatment 3 being the most effective in SDW but treatment 2 (sodium hypochlorite as the active ingredient) being more effective in BSA. The lower DPA concentrations obtained in SDW versus BSA demonstrated the protective effect of organic matter. It was concluded that meat processors should use a 5% formulation containing sodium hypochlorite, sodium hydroxide and alkylamine oxide to eliminate BPS Clostridial spores in the abattoir.

Highlights

Published: 5 February 2022Blown pack spoilage (BPS) typically occurs in chilled vacuum packaged red meat and is characterized by a foul cheese-like odor, accumulation of drip, and copious amounts of gas in correctly stored packs [1,2,3]
CFU/mL; p < 0.05).after In sterile distilled water (SDW), C
C. estertheticum and C. gasigenes spores are commonly found in the meat processing

Summary

Introduction

Published: 5 February 2022Blown pack spoilage (BPS) typically occurs in chilled vacuum packaged red meat and is characterized by a foul cheese-like odor, accumulation of drip, and copious amounts of gas (primarily carbon dioxide, CO2 ) in correctly stored packs [1,2,3]. Bacterial spores are highly resistant to chemical and physical agents [9] and there is currently no standardized method for inactivating BPS spores in the meat plant environment [10,11,12,13]. Chemical agents such as glutaraldehyde, formaldehyde, iodine compounds, chlorine compounds, hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ), peroxy acids, ethylene oxide and betapropiolactone have sporicidal activity [14]. Oxidizing agents are widely used including peracetic acid (PAA) and H2 O2 based sanitizers, which can be applied individually or in Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations

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