Pathogenicity of Feed-Borne Bacillus Cereus and Its Implication on Food Safety

Abstract

Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) is a novel emerging pathogen contaminated extensively in animal feed and food chains, posing a huge economic loss for animal industry and high risk for human health. This pathogen is a robust omnipresent heat resistant spore former, able to form biofilm and isolated from different environments such as food and atmosphere that occur all year round without any particular geographic distribution. The potential of survival for B. cereus spores in unfavorable conditions pose a considerable threat to food safety and also cause economic losses to the food industry. B. cereus aggravates acute diarrhea and malnourishment in poultry by inducing gizzard erosion and ulceration (GEU). It will facilitate persistent other bacterial infection in the lungs via damaging gastric intestine tract. Also, it can cause serious food safety because it seems difficult to fully prevent their presence in food. It may cause gastrointestinal diseases that trigger emetic and diarrheal symptoms as well as general and local infections related to the respiratory tracts of immunologically threatened individual and newborns. B. cereus produces a wide range of potential virulence factors, including heat stable/labile toxins (cerulide, NHE, HBL, CytK, Ent-FM, bc-D-ENT, CLO, HlyII, HlyIII) and tissue-destructive enzymes (PI-PLC, PC-PLC, SMase, β-lactamase, InhA1, NprA), but their roles and molecular mechanism in specific infections have not been clarified yet. This review provided a historical record of possible risk factors and pathogenesis of animal industry and highlights the implications for animal industry and food safety by ingestion of the feed-borne Bacillus cereus.

Bacillus spp. Contamination: A Novel Risk Originated From Animal Feed to Human Food Chains in South-Eastern Bangladesh

“…The data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. Islam et al, 2017;Yu et al, 2019;Haque et al, 2021). Hence, it is of great concern that food safety criteria for B. cereus were not met in 70% of the positive milk samples and 5% of egg, thus signaling a potentially dangerous risk.…”

“…are Gram-positive, rod-shaped, motile (flagellated), aerobic or facultative anaerobic, spore- and biofilm-forming bacteria commonly found in nature, isolated from fermented or unfermented food and feed stuffs, that have caught attention as potential probiotics, which have been patented in the form of a wide range of health supplements. Probiotics are claimed to provide health benefits for the hosts and commonly fed to humans, animals, and plants to increase the production efficiency in livestock, poultry, and aquaculture combating gastrointestinal infections and alternatives to antibiotics ( Elshaghabee et al, 2017 ; Cui et al, 2019 ; Gupta et al, 2019 ; Haque et al, 2021 ). Bacillus spp.…”

“…Correspondingly, various toxins must be investigated to ensure its safety before adding into animal feeds and human medications. Furthermore, B. cereus was a leading cause of food-borne illness in the United States and the third most common food pathogen in China, which causes two distinct gastrointestinal diseases, emesis and diarrhea, as well as many systemic and local complications including hemorrhagic necroses in the central nervous system, fulminant bacteremia, pneumonia, endophthalmitis, and gas gangrene-like cutaneous symptoms in both immune-deficient and immune-competent individuals ( Cui et al, 2019 ; Li et al, 2020 ; Deng et al, 2021 ; Haque et al, 2021 ). In 2018, B. cereus was found in 98 reported outbreaks across EU member States, accounting for 1.9% of all outbreaks, affecting 1,539 people, 111 hospitalizations, and 1 death ( Rodrigo et al, 2021 ).…”

“…In 2018, B. cereus was found in 98 reported outbreaks across EU member States, accounting for 1.9% of all outbreaks, affecting 1,539 people, 111 hospitalizations, and 1 death ( Rodrigo et al, 2021 ). Food-borne B. cereus poisoning includes animal-derived products (poultry, meat and meat products, puddings, sauces, milk and milk products, pasteurized liquid eggs, fish, stew) and plant-based foods (rice, potatoes, cereals, grains, spices, vegetables, salads) ( Haque et al, 2021 ). The survival potential of B. cereus spores in extreme environment poses a significant risk to food safety and also causes economic losses to the food industry.…”

Prevalence, Antibiogram Pattern and Virulence Genes Profile of Bacillus cereus Isolated from Buffalo Milk

“…Generally, B. cereus food infection and intoxication occupied a leading rank among the organisms causing foodborne outbreaks that reported worldwide, (Haque et al 2021), but unfortunately; in Egypt, there were scarce reports and data about the presence of B. cereus among the dairy foodstuff (Abdou et al 2011;Sadek et al 2018;Al-Gamal et al 2019).…”