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The Occurrence of Bacillus cereus in some Dried Foods Including Pulses and Cereals
Author(s) -
BLAKEY LINDA J.,
PRIEST F. G.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
journal of applied bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 0021-8847
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1980.tb01229.x
Subject(s) - bacillus cereus , food science , enterotoxin , food poisoning , cereus , salicin , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biochemistry , bacteria , escherichia coli , genetics , gene
In a survey of 39 dried food samples which represented 12 different pulses and cereals. 22 (56%) were found to be contaminated with Bacillus cereus. The numbers varied between 1 times 102 and 6 times 10 4 organisms/g. During normal cooking procedures and on storage at room temperature, the B. cereus resident on red lentils and kidney beans increased to a level at which enterotoxin production could become significant. Some physiological characteristics including deoxyribonuc‐lease (DNase) and ribonuclease (RNase) secretion and salicin fermentation did not correlate with the ability or otherwise of a strain to cause food poisoning. Nevertheless, serotype 8 strains were prevalent on these foods and these have been implicated in both the diarrhoeal and vomiting‐type food poisoning syndromes.