Clostridium estertheticum

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Clostridium estertheticum
Systematics
Department : Firmicutes
Class : Clostridia
Order : Clostridiales
Family : Clostridiaceae
Genre : Clostridium
Type : Clostridium estertheticum
Scientific name
Clostridium estertheticum
Collins et al. 1993

Clostridium estertheticum is a bacterium from the genus Clostridia . It is adapted to extreme environmental conditions in cold, oxygen-free habitats. Therefore, even in cold stores at a temperature of –1.5 to 16 ° C in vacuum-packed meat, it reaches a high rate of growth, which leads to gas formation and ultimately to the premature inedibility of the food. According to a statement by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment , however, there is no indication of a possible health risk to humans through ingestion of the germs.

features

Clostridium estertheticum is an obligately anaerobic , gram-positive , psychrophilic , rod-shaped bacterium. Like all bacteria of the Clostridiaceae family , it forms permanent stages ( endospores ) under unfavorable conditions , which cannot be killed with common disinfection methods such as heating to 100 ° C or freezing.

Occurrence

Like most species of the genus Clostridium , Clostridium estertheticum is also widespread worldwide and is considered ubiquist . The species was also found in bacterial lawns in the Antarctic . At temperatures of 16 to 20 ° C, the bacterium stops growing and forms spores. These spores were detected in the agricultural sector in faecal samples from stables, on the fur of the animals and on animal bodies before cooling. In slaughterhouses, the spores can get on the meat when the animals are skinned.

Damage

The bacteria can also get into the cold chain if the meat is further divided in plants contaminated with spores . Clostridium estertheticum finds optimal growth conditions in an oxygen-free (anaerobic) environment in vacuum-packed portions of beef and lamb, but also of venison , pork and turkey meat . Depending on the temperature and density of the spore population, gases can be formed after 14 to 63 days, which inflate the packaging ("blown pack spoilage") . When the pack is opened, a sulphurous odor escapes. The shelf life of vacuum-packed beef when stored in a cold store at –1.5 to 0 ° C is usually 84 days, so that effects of the Clostridium estertheticum infestation can occur within the usual storage times and the meat becomes inedible.

Subspecies

In addition to the nominate form, the species Clostridium laramiense has also been regarded as a subspecies of Clostridium estertheticum since 2003 based on molecular genetic studies . Scientists from the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures in Braunschweig succeeded in demonstrating the genetic similarity of a strain of bacteria of the species Clostridium laramiense found in the Antarctic to Clostridium estertheticum .

  • Clostridium estertheticum subsp. estertheticum Collins et al. 1993
  • Clostridium estertheticum subsp. laramiense (Kalchayanand et al. 1993) Spring et al. 2003

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Clostridium estertheticum in vacuum-packed beef: A health risk from consumption is unlikely. Opinion No. 030/2010 of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment of July 6, 2010 ( PDF ).
  2. ↑ DM Broda, JA Boerema, G. Brightwell: Sources of psychrophilic and psychrotolerant clostridia causing spoilage of vacuum-packed chilled meats, as determined by PCR amplification procedure. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 107, pp. 178-186, 2009.
  3. ↑ G. Moschonas, DJ Bolton, JJ Sheridan, DA McDowell: The effect of storage temperature and inoculum level on the time of onset of 'blown pack' spoilage. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 108, pp. 532-539, 2009.
  4. ^ Thomas Schmidhofer: Storage and transport of meat products. In: Oskar Prändl, Albert Fischer, Thomas Schmidhofer, Hans-Jürgen Sinell : Handbook of Food Technology. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 1988.
  5. ↑ Clostridium estertheticum subsp. estertheticum at NCBI Taxonomy Browser.
  6. ↑ Clostridium estertheticum subsp. laramiense at NCBI Taxonomy Browser.

literature

  • MD Collins, UM Rodrigues, RH Dainty, RA Edwards and TA Roberts: Taxonomic studies on a psychrophilic Clostridium from vacuum-packed beef: Description of Clostridium estertheticum sp. nov. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 96, 2-3, pp. 235-239, September 15, 1992 doi : 10.1016 / 0378-1097 (92) 90410-P (first description)
  • S. Spring, B. Merkhoffer, N. Weiss, RM Kroppenstedt, H. Hippe, Erko Stackebrandt : Characterization of novel psychrophilic clostridia from an Antarctic microbial mat: description of Clostridium frigoris sp. nov., Clostridium lacusfryxellense sp. nov., Clostridium bowmanii sp. nov. and Clostridium psychrophilum sp. nov. and reclassification of Clostridium laramiense as Clostridium estertheticum subsp. laramiense subsp. nov. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 53, 4, pp. 1019-1029, July 2003 doi : 10.1099 / ijs.0.02554-0 (description of the subspecies Clostridium estertheticum laramie )
  • Norasak Kalchayanand, B. Ray, RA Field: Characteristics of Psychrotrophic Clostridium laramie Causing Spoilage of Vaccum-packaged Refrigerated Fresh and Roasted Beef. Journal of Food Protection, 56, 1, pp. 13-17, 1993 (first description of Clostridium laramie )

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