Survival of Clostridium Perfringens on Chicken Cooked with Microwave Energy

Abstract

Chicken pieces, which had been inoculated with spores or vegetative cells of heat resistant or heat sensitive strains of Clostridium perfringens, were cooked in a microwave oven and browned in corn oil. The effects of freezing, thawing and frozen storage before and after microwave cooking on recovery of vegetative cells and spores were evaluated.Microwave cooking resulted in a two log cycle reduction in resident vegetative and inoculated C. perfringens cells. When chicken pieces were frozen and thawed, prior to microwave cooking, a greater reduction of the microbial load after cooking was found for both cells and spores of C. perfringens. Reduction of spores by microwave energy was minimal, however, the cooking environment provided an efficient activation and germination step.Cells or spores of C. perfringens were not recovered after microwave cooking followed by browning in heated vegetable oil at 190.5° C.