Rosheen Panton

October 6, 2023
CHEM2511: Commercial Sterility

ABSTRACT
Commercial sterility refers to full destruction of all spores and microorganisms, so that
the survivors are unable to grow under normal, non-refrigerated conditions, preventing spoilage.
Commercial sterility is necessary as it kills the most heat resistant bacteria C.botulinum which
means that it and any less heat resistant bacteria will be absent to endanger the consumers health.
The aim of this experiment is to examine the sterility of canned foods using the commercial
sterility tests. This was accomplished by sampling pre-incubated cans in various culture media as
well as pH and quality analysis. For Can A preincubated at 35°C, bacterial counts were too
numerous to count in most culture media, except for the acidified PDA medium and nutrient agar
medium where colony counts were 0. The average pH observed was 6.12, indicating the low
acidity of the product, whose quality was interestingly normal. Similarly, for Can B preincubated
at 55°C, bacterial counts were too numerous to count, except in nutrient agar where the counts
were 0. Also a low acid food with an average pH of 5.67, the quality of the product could be
considered a bit off. Although micro-examination was not performed, it can be assumed that the
bacteria grown are non-pathogenic, and under ordinary conditions will not grow and cause
spoilage, making the product commercially sterile.
INTRODUCTION
Commercially sterile foods are those that are processed and packaged in such a way that
microorganisms, especially those that pose health risks to consumers are destroyed, and any
remaining survivors are unable to grow under normal, non-refrigerated conditions. In high acid
foods such as fruits, the heat processing is mainly focused on getting rid of non-spore bacteria
such as Staphylococcus aureus 1, yeast and mould, as the environment of the food would be too
acidic for other bacteria to grow. In low acid foods however, the heat processing is focused on
destroying the highly heat resistant Clostridium botulinum and its spores. Clostridium botulinum
are bacterium that, under anerobic conditions such as canning produce deadly toxins (botulisms)
that may lead to various malfunctions in the human body.2 As a result, it is necessary to rid these
deadly bacteria from food by heating for 121°C for 15 minutes. Under this heat processing
treatment, the extremely heat resistant Clostridium botulinum and its spores will be destroyed,
meaning that the less heat resistant microbes will also be killed. In this way, the remaining
bacteria, if any, will not cause spoilage in ordinary conditions and so the product is commercially
sterile. The integrity of the cans being used is also important. Cans are required to have hermitic
seals, that will prevent contamination from the outside environment that may cause spoilage.
Strong dents may also expose food to the environment, allowing bacteria and moisture and air to
enter, facilitating the growth of spoilage organisms and even botulism3. As a result, commercial
sterility tests are usually performed.
Before distributing products, a commercial sterility test is performed. This involves pre-
incubating the food at a given temperature, then performing culture based microbial
determination of growth. This is done using various culture media, as the acidity of the product
may affect the colony growth. Culturing the cans allows for the determination of the number of
organisms present in the product after the heat processing. It also assists in determining the types
of organism present. Analysis of spoilage if any will require a comparison of the spoiled can
along with the sound, so as to compare their microbial communities. In this experiment, it is
expected that bacteria will grow under non-ordinary conditions, ie., under optimal growth
conditions, however the bacteria grown are non-pathogenic. It is also expected the can pre-
incubated at 55°C will contain high bacterial counts.
METHOD
The experiment was performed as stated in the procedure of the lab manual (Food
Processing and Principles CHEM 2511: Experiment 5), however with some adjustments:
1. Gram’s staining of culture was not performed.
2. A PDA streak plate of each culture was not performed.
3. Micro examination of contents was not performed.
RESULTS
Can A- incubated at 35°C for 10 days.
Code: 23062610G RG 24 16:17 BBE-2026-06-26
Preliminary external examinations:
Scratches on body and lid of can; scratches on bottom rim; dents on can body; rust; normal
container (both ends of can show no tendency to become convex).
Table 1: Colony growth of microbes in various culture media from can A incubated at 35°C for 10 days.
Media Size/mm Number Opacity Edge Elevation Surface Colour
TSA 1 <1mm TNTC Opaque Entire Flat Dull White
TSA 2 <1mm TNTC Opaque Entire Flat Dull White
PDA 1 <1mm TNTC Opaque Entire/Irregular Flat Smooth White
PDA 2 <1mm TNTC Opaque Entire/Irregular Flat Smooth White
EMB 1 <1mm TNTC Opaque Entire Flat Smooth White
EMB 2 <1mm TNTC Opaque Entire Flat Dull White
A.PDA 1 - 0 - - - - -
A.PDA 2 - 0 - - - - -
NA - 0 - - - - -
NA - 0 - - - - -
Figures 1, 2 and 3 showing colony growth in TSA, A.PDA and NA media respectively
Can B- incubated at 55°C for 7 days.
Code: VM130Y NVB301 MFG: 2022/NOV/30
Preliminary external examinations:
Scratches and dents on can body; rust; fractured lid; normal container (both ends of can show no
tendency to become convex).
Table 2: Colony growth of microbes in various culture media from can B incubated at 55°C for 7 days.
Media Size/mm Number Opacity Edge Elevation Surface Colour
TSA 1 <1mm TNTC Opaque Irregular Flat Smooth White
TSA 2 <1mm TNTC Opaque Irregular Flat Smooth White
PDA 1 <1mm TNTC Opaque Irregular Flat Smooth White
PDA 2 <1mm TNTC Opaque Irregular Flat Smooth White
EMB 1 <1mm TNTC Opaque Irregular Flat Smooth White
EMB 2 <1mm TNTC Opaque Irregular Flat Smooth White
A.PDA 1 <1mm TNTC Opaque Irregular Flat Smooth White
A.PDA 2 <1mm TNTC Opaque Irregular Flat Smooth White
NA - 0 - - - - -
NA - 0 - - - - -

Figures 4, 5, and 6 showing colony growth in TSA, A.PDA and NA media respectively.

Table 3: pH readings of the contents of each can using the pH meter.

 Can pH reading 1 pH reading 2 Avg pH
A-35°C 6.14 6.10 6.12
B-55°C 5.69 5.65 5.67

Table 4: Quality analysis of contents of each can.

Can Odour Colour Texture
A-35°C Normal Normal/pink Normal
B-55°C Normal/fishy Normal/red Normal

DISCUSSION
Cans that are commercially sterile have been processed so that under regular storage
conditions, the food contents will not spoil or become a health hazard for consumers. This is
especially necessary in foods that are considered low acid and medium acid foods.
Table 1 depicts colony growth from Can A. Colony growth was observed on all media in
large numbers (too numerous to count), with the exception of the acidified PDA (A.PDA) and
the nutrient agar (NA). The size of the colonies was also observed to be very small, being less
than a millimeter in measurement. PDA is a medium that usually determines the presence of
yeast and mould. Once acidified, the pH of the medium lowers and therefore bacterial growth is
inhibited. As a result, it can be assumed that the pH of the medium was too low to allow for the
growth of yeast and mould, resulting in the absence of colony growth as seen in figure 2. This
assumption could be supported by a streak plate test, however said test was not performed.
Nutrient agar is a medium that supports the growth of aerobic bacteria. By streaking a plate, the
colonies are expected to grow under aerobic conditions (on the surface of the agar). Therefore,
the absence of colony growth on the agar could be attributed to the absence of aerobic bacteria
and the presence of anaerobic bacteria. This finding may be supported by the high number of
colony growth in the pour plates, which are aimed at facilitating the growth of anaerobic
bacteria. External observations of the can show that although it has dents and scratches, it also
possesses a hermitic seal. Since there was no effect of outside environment on the can, the high
colony growth could also be attributed to the low acidity of the contents of Can A. As observed
in table 3, the average pH of can A was 6.12. Low acid foods maintain a pH higher than 4.6, tend
to contain optimal conditions for the growth of several bacteria, especially when inside the
temperature danger zone of 5°C to 60°C. However, these findings do contradict the quality
analysis in table 4, where odour, colour and texture were normal.
Table 2 depicts colony growth for Can B. Colony growth was observed on all media in
large numbers (too numerous to count), with the exception of the nutrient agar. As indicated
before, nutrient agar is a medium that supports the growth of non-fastidious, aerobic bacteria.
During a streak plate test, the bacteria is expected to grow on the surface of the agar medium will
will provide an oxygen supply. Therefore, considering the absence of bacterial counts in the
streak plate, it can be assumed that the microorganisms present are anerobic. This can be
supported by the high bacterial counts in the pour plates which is a method geared towards the
growth of anerobic bacteria. The presence of bacterial growth in the A.PDA plates as seen in
figure 5 does contradict the explanation provided using Can A. It was expected that given the
low pH environment, yeast and mould growth would be absent, however they are said to be
numerous. Additionally, the absence of convex ends of the container suggests the absence of
fermentation, a process performed by yeast and mould organisms. Therefore, these
contradictions may be attributed to observation errors considering the contents of the can made it
difficult to identify and differentiate colonies from food particles. However, the high volume of
colonies in the other plates, despite the can maintaining a hermitic seal, could be a result of pre
incubation at 55°C. As mentioned before, the temperature danger zone, which is the temperature
range at which bacteria multiply the fastest, is said to be 5°C to 60°C. Heating at 55°C will
therefore reintroduce thermophiles, which are heat thriving bacteria. Like Can A, the contents of
Can B are also low acid foods, with an average pH of 5.67. This further reinforces the high
number of bacterial counts, as microorganisms tend to survive in less acidic environments. The
findings do to an extent support the quality analysis as the contents of the had a fishy odour.
However, this may also be attributed to what kind of food it is.

CONCLUSION
Commercial sterility means almost complete destruction of microorganisms and spores
during processing, so that the remaining organisms (if any) are incapable of growing under
ordinary conditions. The hypothesis was proven as both cans showed high numbers of bacterial
growth and various media. Contradictory results were obtained in some cases which may be
attributed to experimental errors; however, the rest were generally conclusive. Considering the
definition of commercial sterility, it can be said that these cans were commercially sterile, as
these results were obtained by growing bacteria in optimal conditions, and not under ordinary
conditions.
QUESTIONS
1.Given the definition of commercial sterility, the product may be assumed to be commercially
sterile as results were not obtained under ordinary circumstances. Commercial sterility aims at
destroying especially health hazardous bacteria, and as such more tests would need to be carried
out to determine if the bacteria grown are pathogenic.
2.No. Microbial analysis would we able to identify pathogenic bacteria, bacteria such as
Clostridium botulinum and its spores. The presence of this highly heat resistant bacteria would
indicate that other bacteria of lower heat resistance were not destroyed either during the heating
process, indicating that the product was not properly manufactured. However, the cans
themselves need to be examined as there may be issues with the can seals, lid, body etc. along
with dents that may suggest that proper manufacturing was not carried out.
REFERENCES
1
Biological Hazard in Food – Pathogenic Bacteria (Part II).
https://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/multimedia/multimedia_pub/multimedia_pub_fsf_25_02.ht
ml (accessed 2023-10-04).
2
Botulism. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/botulism (accessed 2023-10-04).
3
Using Foods from Dented Cans. https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/Is-it-safe-to-use-food-from-
dented-cans#:~:text=A%20sharp%20dent%20on%20either,deep%20dent%20on%20any
%20seam. (accessed 2023-10-04).
APPENDIX