In this study we investigated oxygen-permeable packaging,
addition of 2% sodium lactate and the addition of the lactic acid
bacterium Weissella viridescens, as a means of controlling
C. botulinum.W. viridescens was chosen as it had been isolated from
pressure-treated cooked chicken in a previous study and inhibited
some strains of C. botulinum (Patterson, McKay, Connolly, & Linton,
2010). We investigated the survival and growth of C. botulinum
spores in pressure-treated, cooked chicken during storage for up to
91 days at 8 C. This storage temperature was chosen to represent
the typical “poor control” conditions found in many consumers’
refrigerators (James, Evans, & James, 2008). The processing conditions
used were 600 MPa for 2 min at 20 C. These conditions have
previously been shown to be suitable for the treatment of cooked
chicken to extend shelf-life (Patterson et al., 2010) and are similar
to those used in commercial situations.