Clostridia botulinum

There is another aspect of this entire debate relative to food safety that I have not yet addressed and, in fact, is one where biotechnology has great potential. There is consensus among food safety professionals that 98% of all real foodborne illnesses are related to bacterial food poisoning. There are numerous causes of such diseases that have proven very difficult to eliminate. These include meat and produce contamination with bacteria such as Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Eschericia coli and Clostridia botulinum. These organisms and the diseases they cause have killed more people in the United... 

Hatheway, C.L., Clostridium botulinum and other Clostridia that produce botulinum neurotoxin, in Hauschild, A.H.W. and Dodds, K.L,. eds., Clostridium botulinum Ecology and Control in Foods, Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 3-20, 1993. 

Shone CC, Tranter HS (1995) Growth of Clostridia and preparation of their neurotoxins. In Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol. 19 143-60 Shone CC, Quinn CP, Wait R, Hollis B, Fooks SG, Hamblen P (1993) Proteolytic cleavage of synthetic fragments of vesicle-associated membrane protein, isoform-2 by botulinum type B neurotoxin. In Eur. J. Biochem. 217 965-71 Simpson LL (ed)(1989) Botulinum neurotoxin and tetanus toxin. San Diego Academic Press... 

Franciosa, G., Pourshaban, M., De Luca, A., Buccino, A., Dallapiccola, B. and Aureli, P Identification and Type A, B, E, and F botulinum neurotoxin genes and of botulinum neurotoxigenic Clostridia by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 70, 4170-4176 (2004). 

Several species of Clostridia are able to produce botulinum toxins. These have been divided into groups with distinct physiological properties although a particular botulinum toxin type can be produced by more than one group. However, it has been found that botulinus toxin can be produced by C. botulinum strains which are clearly distinct from the hitherto defined species and are related to different species such as C. butyricum and C. baratii which have... 

As well as being inimical to preservation, Clostridia may be a health hazard to animals on diets based on contaminated silage. A number of cases of botulism, caused by Clostridium botulinum, have been reported in horses and cattle receiving such diets. The condition is uncommon in the UK but is more common in the USA and the Baltic countries. It has been claimed to be the causative organism of grass sickness of horses, although a nutritional trigger has also been postulated. 

Saccharolytic Clostridia break lactic acid down to acetic and butyric acids, causing a rise in pH and putting preservation at risk. Proteolytic Clostridia break down amino acids with the production of a number of unpleasant substances. Clostridium botulinum is the causative organism of botulism and has been associated with grass sickness in horses. 

Gastrointestinal colonization in adults or children by Clostridia bacteria does not t5qjically take place except in circumstances where the normal flora has been altered by antibiotic treatment (Cherington, 1998). Botulism results from in vivo production of toxin, analogous to the pathogenesis of infant botulism (Chia et al., 1986). Support for this form of botulism is provided by the demonstration of prolonged excretion of toxin and C. botulinum in stool, by the demonstration of C. botulinum spores but not preformed toxin in suspected foods, or both. 

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