Risk assessment for Clostridium perfringens in ready-to-eat and partially cooked meat and poultry products.
An assessment of the risk of illness associated with Clostridium perfringens in ready-to-eat and partially cooked meat and poultry products was completed to estimate the effect on the annual frequency of illnesses of changing the allowed maximal 1-log growth of C. perfringens during stabilization (cooling after the manufacturing heat step). The exposure assessment modeled stabilization, storage, and consumer preparation such as reheating and hot-holding. The model predicted that assuming a 10- or 100-fold increase from the assumed 1-log (maximal allowable) growth of C. perfringens results in a 1.2- or 1.6-fold increase of C. perfringens-caused illnesses, respectively, at the median of the uncertainty distribution. Improper retail and consumer refrigeration accounted for approximately 90% of the 79,000 C. perfringens illnesses predicted by the model at 1-log growth during stabilization. Improper hot-holding accounted for 8% of predicted illnesses, although model limitations imply that this is an underestimate. Stabilization accounted for less than 1% of illnesses. Efforts to reduce illnesses from C. perfringens in ready-to-eat and partially cooked meat and poultry products should focus on retail and consumer storage and preparation methods.
Golden
Neal J
NJ
Risk Assessment Division, Office of Public Health Science, Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250, USA. neal.golden@fsis.usda.gov
Crouch
Edmund A
EA
Latimer
Heejeong
H
Kadry
Abdel-Razak
AR
Kause
Janell
J
D003016:Clostridium perfringens / Q000254:growth & development*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D003296:Cooking / Q000379:methods; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008461:Meat Products / Q000382:microbiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D011202:Poultry Products / Q000382:microbiology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013171:Spores, Bacterial