Open AccessOccurrence and significance of Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis in ready‐to‐eat food
Author(s) -
Rosenquist Hanne,
Smidt Lasse,
Andersen Sigrid R.,
Jensen Gert B.,
Wilcks Andrea
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1016/j.femsle.2005.06.054
Subject(s) - bacillus cereus , bacillus thuringiensis , cereus , biology , food science , bacillales , microbiology and biotechnology , bacteria , bacillus (shape) , food poisoning , bacillaceae , enterotoxin , gene , escherichia coli , genetics , bacillus subtilis
Among 48,901 samples of ready‐to‐eat food products at the Danish retail market, 0.5% had counts of Bacillus cereus ‐like bacteria above 10 4 cfu g −1 . The high counts were most frequently found in starchy, cooked products, but also in fresh cucumbers and tomatoes. Forty randomly selected strains had at least one gene or component involved in human diarrhoeal disease, while emetic toxin was related to only one B. cereus strain. A new observation was that 31 out of the 40 randomly selected B. cereus ‐like strains could be classified as Bacillus thuringiensis due to crystal production and/or content of cry genes. Thus, a large proportion of the B. cereus ‐like organisms present in food may belong to B. thuringiensis .