Survival of Clostridium perfringens During Baking and Holding of Turkey Stuffing

Vegetative cells of three strains of Clostridium perfringens were used as inoculum for bread and onion stuffing for eight lightweight and eight heavyweight turkeys. When stuffed turkeys were refrigerated (5 ± 1 C for 24 ± 2 hr), a mean count of 580 vegetative cells of C. perfringens per gram of stuffing was reduced to undetectable levels (<6 per gram) in six of the eight. An inoculum of spores of the three strains used in a second series survived refrigerated holding with no change in numbers. During cooking of the stuffed turkeys in an oven at 94 C, numbers of vegetative cells fell steadily and numbers of spores remained constant or increased slightly (2 of 16 stuffings), until the temperature of the stuffing rose above that permitting growth. Viable C. perfringens cells were recovered from the stuffings at the end of cooking plus 1 hr for the group inoculated with the spore suspension. Storage of these stuffings resulted in marked reductions in numbers after 6 days at 5 ± 1 C and in increases after 24 ± 2 hr at 23 ± 1 C. Cells of a strain which produces spores not considered heat-resistant survived in stuffing in birds cooked to doneness in ovens at 94, 163, and 232 C. In accepted methods of cooking stuffed turkeys, C. perfringens contaminants may survive and create a hazard if subsequent storage is in a temperature range which permits their multiplication.