C. perfringens spores for germination. However, C. perfringens spores were efficiently activated with
elevated temperature (80 C, 10 min), and germinated at temperatures lethal for vegetative cells (55 C)
when incubated for 60 min with a mixture of L-asparagine and KCl (AK) in phosphate buffer (pH 7) and in
poultry meat. Inactivation of spores (w4 decimal reduction) in meat by elevated temperatures (80–90 C
for 20 min) required a long germination period (55 C for 60 min). However, similar inactivation level
was reached with shorter germination period (55 C for 15 min) when spore contaminated-meat was
treated with pressure-assisted thermal processing (568 MPa, 73 C, 10 min). Therefore, the most efficient
strategy to inactivate C. per