Detection of Clostridium botulinum in honey by polymerase chain reaction

A method for detection of Clostridium botulinum in honey was developed. The detection system comprises microbiological enrichment, DNA extraction, and polymerase chain reaction. Verification of amplicons was done by sequencin g. The presence of toxin in the enriched samples was verified by animal tes ting with mice. In 1 of 52 samples of honey C. botulinum was detected by us ing this method. 1 of 4 honey samples of the same batch was also positive f or C. botulinum. Isolation of the molecularbiologically and by animal testi ng detected C. botulinum was not successful. The sensitivity of the publish ed primer systems used in this study was different. Detection of C. botulin um only by cultural methods seems to be not sufficient.