Screening for Clostridium botulinum type A, B, and E in cooked chilled foods containing vegetables and raw material using polymerase chain reaction and molecular probes

A molecular method was used for the detection of Clostridium botulinum spor es of type A, B, and E in commercial cooked and pasteurized vegetable puree s and in the raw materials (vegetables and other ingredients). The method a llowed the detection of less than 8 spores/g of product for C. botulinum ty pe A, less than 1 spore/g for proteolytic type B, less than 21 spores/g for nonproteolytic type B, and less than 0.1 spore/g for type E. Thirty-seven samples of raw vegetables and ingredients were tested for the presence of C . botulinum type A, B, and E; 88 and 90 samples of vegetable purees were te sted, respectively, for the presence of C. botulinum type A and B and for t he presence of C. botulinum type E. All samples were negative, suggesting t hat the prevalence of C. botulinum in these vegetable purees and the raw in gredients is probably low.