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Review
. 2024 Aug 18;13(16):2578.
doi: 10.3390/foods13162578.

Health Hazard Associated with the Presence of Clostridium Bacteria in Food Products

Agnieszka Bilska  1 , Krystian Wochna  2 , Małgorzata Habiera  2 , Katarzyna Serwańska-Leja  3   4
Affiliations
Review

Health Hazard Associated with the Presence of Clostridium Bacteria in Food Products

Agnieszka Bilska et al. Foods. .

Abstract

Clostridium bacteria were already known to Hippocrates many years before Christ. The name of the Clostridium species is owed to the Polish microbiologist, Adam Prażmowski. It is now known that these Clostridium bacteria are widespread in the natural environment, and their presence in food products is a threat to human health and life. According to European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reports, every year, there are poisonings or deaths due to ingestion of bacterial toxins, including those of the Clostridium spp. The strengthening of consumer health awareness has increased interest in consuming products with minimal processing in recent years, which has led to a need to develop new techniques to ensure the safety of microbiological food, including elimination of bacteria from the Clostridium genera. On the other hand, the high biochemical activity of Clostridium bacteria allows them to be used in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and medical industries. Awareness of microbiological food safety is very important for our health. Unfortunately, in 2022, an increase in infections with Clostridium bacteria found in food was recorded. Knowledge about food contamination should thus be widely disseminated.

Keywords: C. botulinum; Clostridium spp.; food pathogen; industrial application of Clostridium spp.; microbiological food safety.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Clostridium butyricum (photo taken at the Department of Biotechnology and Food Microbiology at the University of Life Sciences in Poznań using an inverted fluorescence microscope( Zeiss, Axiovert 200)).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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