Hi everyone
I need your help for some microbiological testing plan. we have developed a seafood based frozen curries, which are cook to final temperature of 80-85 degrees Celsius which is conventional open pan cooking and not retort. hot product (65-70 degrees Celsius) is then packed in airtight polypropylene box and then passes through blast freezer, product core temper is -18 C or below after blast freezing. then product is finally vacuum sealed / packed in flexible plastic bag through vacuum machine.
our other microbiological results are satisfactory for finished product for salmonella, e.coli, vibrio and staphylococcus aureus.
now I have to see for clostridium, is there any chance of clostridium botulinum growth during storage of product at -18 C, when product is in frozen form, I mean can clostridium survive frozen temperature, as we normally see that retort products are susceptible to the growth of botulinum if sterilization is not properly done and product is stored at ambient temperature. if anybody can guide me on this. thanks