Exercise 10 - Commercial Sterility Testing

Commercial Sterilization

• limited heat treatment

• food is subjected only to enough heat to destroy endospores of clostridium botulinum

• Complete sterility cannot be achieved because complete sterility would degrade the food

• Endospores of thermophilic bacteria capable of causing food spoilage but not human disease, are considerably more resistant to heat

Canned Food spoilage

• canned food undergoes microbial spoilage under certain conditions

• causes: underprocessing, leakage, inadequate cooling, preprocess spoilage

Low Acid Food spoilage

• meat and marine products spoiled by thermophilic flat sour group

Acid

• fruits such as tomatoes and pears

• thermophilic spoilers and mesophiles

High acid

• fruits and vegetables

• non-sporeforming mesophiles