Survivability of Clostridioides difficile spores in fermented pork summer sausage during refrigerated storage

Research (Published online: 27-01-2022)

20. Survivability of Clostridioides difficile spores in fermented pork summer sausage during refrigerated storage

Genevieve Flock, Hsin-Bai Yin, Chi-Hung Chen, Abraham Joseph Pellissery and Kumar Venkitanarayanan

Veterinary World, 15(1): 162-167

Genevieve Flock: Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Soldier Sustainment Directorate, Combat Feeding Division, Natick 01760, Massachusetts, United States.

Hsin-Bai Yin: Department of Agriculture, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, Maryland 20705, United States.

Chi-Hung Chen: Department of Agriculture, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, Maryland 20705, United States.

Abraham Joseph Pellissery: Department of Animal Science, University of Connecticut, College of Agriculture Health and Natural Resources, Mansfield 06269, Connecticut, United States.

Kumar Venkitanarayanan: Department of Animal Science, University of Connecticut, College of Agriculture Health and Natural Resources, Mansfield 06269, Connecticut, United States.

doi: www.doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2022.162-167

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Article history: Received: 23-08-2021, Accepted: 23-12-2021, Published online: 27-01-2022

Corresponding authors: Kumar Venkitanarayanan

E-mail: kumar.venkitanarayanan@uconn.edu

Citation: Flock G, Yin H, Chen C, Pellissery AJ, Venkitanarayanan K (2022) Survivability of Clostridioides difficile spores in fermented pork summer sausage during refrigerated storage, Veterinary World, 15(1): 162-167.

Abstract

Background and Aim: Clostridioides difficile is a spore-forming pathogen that causes serious enteric disease in humans. Strains have been isolated from food animals and meat, including pork, which suggest a potential for foodborne transmission. Pork summer sausage is a popular fermented meat product, which is consumed cooked or cooked to a lower internal temperature due to acidification of the product. The effect of acidity and cooking on the viability of C. difficile spores in a fermented meat product has not been determined. Therefore, the aim was to study the survivability of C. difficile spores in fermented pork summer sausage.

Materials and Methods: Fermented pork sausages were prepared according to a commercial recipe with or without starter culture and C. difficile spores followed by fermentation at 37°C for ∼12 h under 85% relative humidity until pH 5.0 was reached and further processed as cooked (>57°C) or uncooked (≤57°C) and stored at 4°C. C. difficile spores in sausages were enumerated at 1 h following inoculation and on days 0, 1, 7, 14, 21, 30, 60, and 90 of storage.

Results: It was observed that C. difficile spore viability in control unfermented treatment was significantly different on day 0 from the fermented, fermented cooked, and control unfermented cooked treatments (p<0.05); however, there was no significant difference among the latter three treatment groups throughout 90 days of storage (p>0.05). On day 90 of storage, the unfermented control sausages yielded ∼4.0 log colony-forming unit (CFU)/g of C. difficile spores compared to ∼3.5 log CFU/g recovered from fermented samples and the unfermented cooked control samples identifying spore viability in all treatment groups.

Conclusion: C. difficile spores were found to survive the acidity and cooking of fermented pork summer sausage and storage at 4°C for 3 months, thereby highlighting the need for effective intervention strategies to reduce the risk of C. difficile contamination in pork products.

Keywords: acidity, Clostridioides difficile, fermented pork sausage, spores.