Fig. 1
Viable counts of a spore spoilage model for a canned food matrix. Colony-forming units (CFUs) of pure canned food (soup), the pure spore mixture of five species diluted in physiological salt (spike mixture), canned food inoculated with the spike mixture in diluted series (soup + spike mixture), and canned food spiked with 1 × 106 spores and incubated at 37 or 55 °C (o/n incubation) are shown. CFU counts were determined on TSA plates aerobically incubated at 37 °C (hatched bars) or 55 °C (black bars). Error bars represent duplicates of separate canned food, spore, or canned food + spore batches. The dashed black line (logCFU = 1) indicates the detection limit: bars below this limit represent samples where no growth was observed