An outbreak of botulism associated with home-canned chili peppers killed 16 members of one family...?

Question

Would a standard plate count have detected the etiologic agent in the canned chilli peppers? Why or Why not?

Answer 1

I agree with the previous poster. I don't think that a plate count would detect the agent. Etiologic agent means the bacteria or virus that causes the disease.

Botulism is caused by a chemical toxin made by the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium botulinum. A standard plate count would not grow an anerobic bacterium, and bacterial cultures would not indicate the presence of a toxin.

Answer 2

Hm, I don't know the answer.

Looking around, it seems as though the Standard Plate Count is generally a test for aerobic heterotrophs. This would not detect the agent in the canned food, since it's an anaerobe.

Suppose you performed a plate count test in anaerobic conditions. This still might not detect the botulinum bacteria in your canned sample. There is a possibility that after excreting their botulin toxin, all the bacteria died (non-viable), and would thus not be detectable by any culturing methods.

Answer 3

The peppers were not organically grown and laked proper washing prior to canning.