title: Occurrence and significance of Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis in ready-to-eat food.
abstract: Among 48,901 samples of ready-to-eat food products at the Danish retail market, 0.5% had counts of Bacillus cereus-like bacteria above 10(4) cfu g(-1). The high counts were most frequently found in starchy, cooked products, but also in fresh cucumbers and tomatoes. Forty randomly selected strains had at least one gene or component involved in human diarrhoeal disease, while emetic toxin was related to only one B. cereus strain. A new observation was that 31 out of the 40 randomly selected B. cereus-like strains could be classified as Bacillus thuringiensis due to crystal production and/or content of cry genes. Thus, a large proportion of the B. cereus-like organisms present in food may belong to B. thuringiensis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiological Food Safety, Danish Institute for Food and Veterinary Research, Mørkhøj Bygade 19, DK-2860 Søborg, Denmark. hrq@dfvf.dk
authors.forename: Hanne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rosenquist
authors.forename: Lasse
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Smidt
authors.forename: Sigrid R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Gert B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wilcks
mesh_terms: D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D001413:Bacillus thuringiensis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D000083722:Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D004731:Endotoxins / Q000235:genetics; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000235:genetics; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype
chemical_list: D000083722:Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004731:Endotoxins; D004768:Enterotoxins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; C040792:enterotoxin, Bacillus cereus; C030956:insecticidal crystal protein, Bacillus Thuringiensis