THE APPLICATION OF A LOG-LOGISTIC MODEL TO DESCRIBE THE THERMAL INACTIVATION OF CLOSTRIDIUM-BOTULINUM 213B AT TEMPERATURES BELOW 121.1-DEGREES-C

In this work, the death of Clostridium botulinum 213B was measured at temperatures between 101 degrees C and 121 degrees C. It was found tha t at all temperatures tested, survivor curves deviated from log-linear ity which prevented their description using traditional first order ki netics, The survivor curves were better described using a vitalistic a pproach and the log-logistic transformation proposed by Cole et al. (1 993). A single equation was derived to describe all survivor curves ov er the temperature range tested and a comparison of predicted and meas ured data showed good correlation. The implications of the use of the vitalistic approach to the validity of the 'minimum botulinum cook' is discussed.