Spoilage of Vacuum-Packaged Refrigerated Beef by Clostridium

Abstract

A motile, gram-positive, spore forming, anaerobic, psychrotrophic bacterial species, probably from the genus Clostridium, was involved in spoilage of vacuum-packaged refrigerated fresh beef. The spoilage was associated with accumulation of large quantities of foul smelling gas and purge in the bag and loss of color and texture of the meat. Attempts to grow the organism in several laboratory media were not yet successful; however, inoculation of purge from a spoiled sample into a fresh beef, vacuum-packaging and refrigeration storage facilitated growth of this species and produced characteristic spoilage of beef.