Final answer:
Commercial sterilization aims to destroy d) Clostridium botulinum endospores in canned foods to prevent foodborne illnesses while preserving food quality.
Step-by-step explanation:
Commercial sterilization is a process used to preserve food by applying limited heat treatment that destroys pathogens responsible for food poisoning while maintaining food quality. The correct answer to the question is D) Clostridium botulinum endospores. These endospores are highly resistant and can survive under harsh conditions, making them particularly difficult to kill.
However, commercial sterilization assumes a large margin of error, ensuring that even a hypothetical massive population of endospores in canned foods is reduced to a safe level. It's worth noting that while commercial sterilization aims to destroy pathogens like C. botulinum, it is not designed to kill all microbes that may be present.