Prevalence and toxicity characterization of Bacillus cereus in food products from Poland

Abstract

The prevalence of Bacillus cereus in a total of 585 samples of food products (herbs and spices, breakfast cereals, pasta, rice, infant formulas, pasteurized milk, fresh acid and acid/rennet cheeses, mold cheeses and ripening rennet cheeses) marketed in Poland was investigated. The potential of 1022 selected isolates of B. cereus to hydrolyze casein, starch and tributyrin, to ferment lactose, to grow at 7 C/10 days, to produce Nhe and Hbl toxin and to possess the ces gene was verified. B. cereus was found in 38.8% of the analyzed samples, reaching levels from 0.3 to 3.8 log CFU g-1 or mL-1. From the 1022 isolates, 48.8%, 36.0%, 98.9%, 80.0% and 25.0% were capable of fermenting lactose, producing amylase, protease, lipase and growing at 7 C/10 days, respectively, indicating spoilage potentiality. The occurrence of toxigenic B. cereus strains in all tested market products, both of plant (55.8% Hbl(+), 70.7% Nhe(+) and 1.7% ces(+) isolates) and animal origin (84.9% Hbl(+), 82.7% Nhe(+) and 0.9% ces(+) isolates) indicates the possible risk of foodborne infections/intoxications that occur as a result of the possibility of the development of B. cereus in favorable conditions and consumption of these products.

Identification and Pathogenic Potential of Bacillus cereus Strains Isolated from a Dairy Processing Plant Producing PDO Taleggio Cheese

“…The isolates obtained from the analyzed Taleggio production plant showed a constant ability to produce PC-PLC, proteases, and hemolysins, whereas only most of them were able produce HBL (66.7%). These results agree with previous studies showing a very high rate of PC-PLC, protease, and hemolysin activity [4,[31][32][33], and a variable rate of HBL production (ranging from 20 to 90%) by B. cereus isolates [21,34,35].…”

“…The microorganism was found in all the areas of the plant at similar rates. This result was expected for the ubiquity of the microorganism and the multiplicity of contamination sources [21]. As regards the microbe distribution in different areas, its recovery from transfer-non food contact surfaces (tr-NFCS) suggests that these surfaces represent contamination carriers between different working areas or from the outside (e.g., during the working pauses or trucks loading/unloading).…”

The Bacillus cereus Food Infection as Multifactorial Process

“…However, it must be pointed out that in several studies the ces gene cluster (encoding cereulide synthetase) is not investigated or not mentioned [119][120][121], and that several studies do not distinguish between emetic and enteropathogenic B. cereus at all [122,123]. If the emetic toxin genes are investigated, their occurrence is rather rare compared to the enterotoxin genes ( Table 2 and [124][125][126][127][128][129]). Other studies challenge the tight association of emetic B. cereus with starchy foodstuffs and suggest a rather heterogeneous distribution.…”

A Study on Prevalence and Characterization of Bacillus cereus in Ready-to-Eat Foods in China

“…Bacillus cereus produces a range of virulence factors and can enter the gastrointestinal tract via ingestion, where it causes diarrhea and vomiting (Jensen et al, 2003;Stenfors Arnesen et al, 2008;Song et al, 2019). Diarrhea is associated with four different enterotoxins, the hemolysin BL (HBL, encoded by hblA, hblC, and hblD), non-hemolytic enterotoxin (NHE, encoded by nheA, nheB, nheC), enterotoxin FM (EntFM, encoded by entFM) and the cytotoxin K (CytK, encoded by cytK) (Beecher et al, 1995;Lund and Granum, 1996;Granum et al, 1999;Lund et al, 2000;Bonerba et al, 2010;Tran et al, 2010;Berthold-Pluta et al, 2019). HBL and NHE are both tripartite toxins (Berthold-Pluta et al, 2019).…”

“…Diarrhea is associated with four different enterotoxins, the hemolysin BL (HBL, encoded by hblA, hblC, and hblD), non-hemolytic enterotoxin (NHE, encoded by nheA, nheB, nheC), enterotoxin FM (EntFM, encoded by entFM) and the cytotoxin K (CytK, encoded by cytK) (Beecher et al, 1995;Lund and Granum, 1996;Granum et al, 1999;Lund et al, 2000;Bonerba et al, 2010;Tran et al, 2010;Berthold-Pluta et al, 2019). HBL and NHE are both tripartite toxins (Berthold-Pluta et al, 2019). CytK belongs to a member of the family of β-barrel pore forming toxins that can cause serious food poisoning, skin necrosis, hemolysis, and even death (Lund et al, 2000).…”