EARLY DETECTION OF CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS ENTEROTOXIN AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO SENSORY QUALITY OF COOKED CHICKEN

Growth, sporulation, and enterotoxin formation by Clostridium perfringens NCTC 8239 were determined in chicken thigh meat incubated at 45°C for 1.5 h and 37°C for up to 12.5 h. With an inoculum of 10⁶ vegetative cells per g, the cell counts reached mean log ₁₀ 7.32/g after 6 h of incubation and remained in that range through 14 h. Heat‐resistant spores (log₁₀ 2.48/g) were first detected at 4 h, and the number increased to log₁₀ 5.19/g at 14 h. Enterotoxin (0.19 μg/g) was first detected after 2 h of incubation (1.5 h at 45°C and 0.5 h at 37°C) in the absence of detectable sporulation, and the enterotoxin concentration increased to 0.76 μg/g after 14 h. Significant differences (p < 0.01) in the odor, color, and texture scores for inoculated versus uninoculated cooked chicken following 2 h incubation correlated with the production of enterotoxin and suggested that these parameters could be used as indices of chicken spoilage by C. perfringens.