Generation times of ent+ and ent- strains in different media and at different temperatures (shortest known cellular doubling time)

Range Table - link
Organism Bacteria Clostridium perfringens
Reference Labbe R.G., Huang T.H. Generation times and modeling of enterotoxin-positive and enterotoxin-negative strains of Clostridium perfringens in laboratory media and ground beef. J. Food Prot. 1995 58 (12) 1303–1306. Table 1 page 1305
Method The growth of two enterotoxin-positive (ent+) and two enterotoxin-negative (ent-) strains of Clostridium perfringens were examined in two laboratory media, fluid thioglycollate and fluid thioglycollate with beef, and in autoclaved ground beef stored at 37, 41, 43, 46, and 48°C. There was no association between enterotoxigenicity and optimum growth temperature, which varied depending on strain and medium. Experimentally obtained values for generation times at 43°C were as low as 8.7 and 6.3 min in thioglycollate both for ent+ and ent- strains respectively. In autoclaved ground beef the shortest generation times, 7.1 min and 9.2 min, were obtained at 41 and 46°C for two ent+ strains. For ent- strains in autoclaved ground beef a generation time of 6.6 min was observed at 43°C. Temperature optima obtained experimentally were the same as those obtained by the Gompertz model (For Gompertz model see: Buchanan, R. 1991. 'Using spreadsheet software for predictive micro-biology applications' J. Food Safety 11:123-134 AND Whiting, R. and R. Buchanan. 1994. Microbial Modeling. Food Technol. 48: 113-120).
Comments The rapid growth of the ent+ strains between 41 and 46°C underlines previous recommendations for proper holding and cooling of protein foods such as meat and poultry known to support the growth of this organism. For value of 6.3min from table see BNID 105469
Entered by Uri M
ID 105473