Effectiveness of cleaning and disinfection procedures on the removal of enterotoxigenic bacillus cereus from infant feeding bottles.
Reconstituted infant milk formulas are considered a food class of high risk because of the susceptibility of the infant population to enteric bacterial pathogens, severe response to enterotoxins, and increased mortality. Twenty infant feeding bottles, contaminated with different levels of enterotoxigenic Bacillus cereus, were subjected in triplicate to a variety of commonly used cleaning and disinfection procedures Although thorough cleaning reduced microbial numbers, it did not remove all B. cereus present. Three commercially available disinfection procedures (i.e., one chemical and two thermal) successfully eliminated this organism when the level of contamination was <10(5) organisms ml(-1). However, the chemical disinfection method failed to eliminate enterotoxigenic B. cereus totally at potentially hazardous contamination levels (i.e., greater than or equal to 10(5) organisms ml(-1)) that may be encountered under storage abuse conditions in the home.
Rowan
N J
NJ
Department of Biotechnology, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow Scotland
Anderson
J G
JG
D000818:Animals; D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D001903:Bottle Feeding; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004203:Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D018857:Food Packaging / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007225:Infant Food / Q000382:microbiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008872:Microwaves; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology*; D013242:Sterilization