EFEITO DA TEMPERATURA NO CRESCIMENTO DE Clostridium botulinum NÃO PROTEOLÍTICO EM PURÊ DE COUVE-FLOR

Abstract

Botulism results from the action of a toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum, which already has the toxin preformed. It is characterized as a serious disease, with an acute evolution, which causes digestive and neurological changes in the individual, with symptoms of respiratory failure followed by death. Vegetables, despite being consumed raw, are also found in canned form, with a longer shelf life when compared to fresh vegetables, but these processes can trigger the aggregation of a wide range of microbial species, including pathogens, such as in purees. The objective of this work was to estimate the effect of temperature on the growth parameters of non-proteolytic C. botulinum in cauliflower puree, using the Microrisk Lab software model. Non-proteolytic C. botulinum growth data were collected and analyzed at temperatures of 5 ºC, 8 ºC, 10 ºC and 16 ºC and pH 5.56, acquired from research by Carlin and Peck (1996), available in the database ComBase and the Baranyi and Roberts and Gompertz models were fitted to the growth curves using the MicroRisk Lab. When analyzing the results, it can be concluded that the primary models by Baranyi and Roberts and Gompertz performed well to describe the growth of non-proteolytic C. botulinum in cauliflower puree, with good statistical indices. Furthermore, the secondary models well described the influence of temperature on the maximum specific growth rate of C. botulinum, with emphasis on the Exponential model. It is concluded that the application of predictive models and user-friendly software can help in the identification of pathogens contaminating plant products, under different storage conditions, without the need to carry out several experiments to determine the safety of the product.