Preventing Foodborne Illness: Clostridium botulinum
High density (1,361 trees per acre) Murcott trees yielding 680 boxes/acre in year 2, CREC CUPS. Figure 4 from publication CMG19/HS1304: Citrus Under Protective Screen (CUPS) production systems. Credits: Arnold W. Schumann, UF/IFAS.
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Supplementary Files

FS104 C. bot transmittal form

Keywords

Clostridium botulinum food safety
Foodborne Illness

How to Cite

Schneider, Keith R., Renée M. Goodrich Schneider, Ploy Kurdmonkoltham, and Bruna Bertoldi. 2017. “Preventing Foodborne Illness: Clostridium Botulinum: FSHN0406/FS104, Rev. 6/2017”. EDIS 2017 (4). Gainesville, FL. https://doi.org/10.32473/edis-fs104-2017.

Abstract

Clostridium botulinum is the bacterium that causes botulism. Clostridium botulinum is a Gram-positive, slightly curved, motile, anaerobic rod-shaped bacterium that produces heat-resistant endospores. These endospores, which are very resistant to a number of environmental stresses such as heat and high acid, can become activated in anaerobic environments, low acidity (pH > 4.6), high moisture content, and in temperatures ranging from 40ºF to 250ºF (4ºC to 121ºC) (Sobel et al. 2004). In hostile environmental conditions, the heat-resistant spores enable the bacteria to survive for extended periods of time in a dormant state until conditions become more favorable.

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