Bacillus cereus as the main casual agent of foodborne outbreaks in Southern Brazil: data from 11 years

An Investigation on the Occurrence and Molecular Characterization of Bacillus cereus in Meat and Meat Products in China

Bacillus cereus is a common foodborne pathogen that can cause both gastrointestinal and nongastrointestinal diseases. In this study, we collected 603 meat and meat products from 39 major cities in China. The positive contamination rate of B. cereus in the collected samples was 26.37% (159/603), and the contamination level in 5.03% (8/159) positive samples exceeded 1100 most probable number/g. The detection rates of virulence genes were 89.7% for the nheABC gene group, 37.1% for the hblACD gene cluster, 82.3% for cytK-2, and 2.9% for cesB. Notably, all isolates presented with multiple antibiotic resistance, and 99.43% of isolates were resistant to five classes of antibiotics. In addition, the multilocus sequence typing results indicated that all isolates were rich in genetic diversity. Collectively, we conducted a systematic investigation on the prevalence and characterization of B. cereus in meat and meat products in China, providing crucial information for assessing the risk of B. cereus occurrence in meat and meat products.

The Bacillus cereus Food Infection as Multifactorial Process

The ubiquitous soil bacterium Bacillus cereus presents major challenges to food safety. It is responsible for two types of food poisoning, the emetic form due to food intoxication and the diarrheal form emerging from food infections with enteropathogenic strains, also known as toxico-infections, which are the subject of this review. The diarrheal type of food poisoning emerges after production of enterotoxins by viable bacteria in the human intestine. Basically, the manifestation of the disease is, however, the result of a multifactorial process, including B. cereus prevalence and survival in different foods, survival of the stomach passage, spore germination, motility, adhesion, and finally enterotoxin production in the intestine. Moreover, all of these processes are influenced by the consumed foodstuffs as well as the intestinal microbiota which have, therefore, to be considered for a reliable prediction of the hazardous potential of contaminated foods. Current knowledge regarding these single aspects is summarized in this review aiming for risk-oriented diagnostics for enteropathogenic B. cereus.

Traditional and Artisanal Beverages in Nigeria: Microbial Diversity and Safety Issues

A review of up to 90 articles on the microorganisms associated with important artisanal or traditional beverages in Nigeria was carried out. This resulted in an overview of the prevalent microorganisms associated with soymilk, nono (fermented cow milk), tiger nut milk, yoghurt, kunu, zobo, palm wine and the local beers pito and brukutu. The bacteria genera, namely Bacillus, Escherichia, Lactobacillus, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus, were detected in all nine beverages. On the contrary, this survey resulted in finding that the genera Saccharomyces, Aspergillus, Candida, and Penicillium were the eukaryotic microorganisms isolated in all beverages. The occurrence of fungal isolates, which can be responsible for producing mycotoxins, is a concern and shows the need for post-production tests. Overall, there is a low prevalence of bacteria associated with hygiene, especially the Escherichia genus in alcoholic beverages such as palm wine, pito and burukutu, which may be due both to a low acidity and high ethanol content. However, the prevalence of hygiene indicator genera was higher in nonalcoholic drinks, probably because of incorrect practices during processing. The magnitude of the production and sales of unregulated local beverages in Nigeria has reached the stage where significant regulation and food safety standards are required to safeguard public health. An opportunity exists to monitor and characterize the microbial flora of the artisanal beverages using molecular methods at all stages of production and storage.