Conservative prediction of time to Clostridium botulinum toxin formation for use with time-temperature indicators to ensure the safety of foods.
Integrating-type time-temperature indicators (TTIs) may be utilized to warn food processors and consumers about storage conditions that may have rendered a food potentially hazardous. As an example of how integrated TTIs could be manufactured to emulate an infinite set of time-temperature situations, a set of conditions which have supported C. botulinum growth and toxin production was compiled. The time-temperature curve representing conservative times required for toxin formation was constructed with data from literature relating to toxin formation as a function of temperature in any media or food product. This set of critical time-temperature data is fit by a conservative empirical relationship that can be used to predict combinations of incubation times and storage temperatures that represent a potential health risk from C. botulinum in foods. A TTI could be constructed to indicate deviation from such a given set of conditions to bring attention to foods that may have been exposed to potentially hazardous temperatures with respect to C. botulinum toxin formation.
National Center for Food Safety and Technology/Food and Drug Administration, Division of Food Processing and Packaging, Summit-Argo, Illinois 60501, USA. ges@vm.cfsan.fda.gov
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Skinner
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Larkin
D000818:Animals; D001905:Botulinum Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000633:toxicity; D001906:Botulism / Q000382:microbiology*; D003014:Clostridium botulinum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D005511:Food Handling; D006801:Humans; D012474:Salmon / Q000382:microbiology; D017747:Seafood / Q000382:microbiology*; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors
D001905:Botulinum Toxins