Preventing Foodborne Illness: Clostridium botulinum

Clostridium botulinum is the bacterium that causes botulism. Clostridium botulinum is a Gram-positive, slightly curved, motile, anaerobic rod-shaped bacterium that produces heat-resistant endospores. These endospores, which are very resistant to a number of environmental stresses such as heat and high acid, can become activated in anaerobic environments, low acidity (pH > 4.6), high moisture content, and in temperatures ranging from 40ºF to 250ºF (4ºC to 121ºC) (Sobel et al. 2004). In hostile environmental conditions, the heat-resistant spores enable the bacteria to survive for extended periods of time in a dormant state until conditions become more favorable.