title: Follow-up of the Bacillus cereus emetic toxin production in penne pasta under household conditions using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry.
abstract: Two outbreak-related Bacillus cereus emetic strains were investigated for their growth and cereulide production potential in penne pasta at 4, 8 and 25 °C during 7-day storage. Cereulide production was detected and quantified by LC-MS method (LOD of 1 ng/ml, LOQ of 5 ng/ml) and growth was determined by culture-based enumeration. Inoculated B. cereus strains (10(5) CFU/g) were able to reach counts of more than 10(8) CFU/g and cereulide production of about 500 ng/g already after 3 days of storage at 25 °C. Interestingly, a constant increase of the toxin was noticed during incubation at ambient temperature storage: the cereulide was continuously produced during the bacterial stationary growth phase reaching maximal amounts at the end of the experiment (7 days, concentration of about 1000 ng/g). Strictly respected cold chain temperature as 4 °C did not allow any detectable cereulide production for any of the two tested strains. At the limited temperature abuse of 8 °C, a detectable amount of cereulide was observed after two days for one of the strain (TIAC303) (<LOQ). These results confirm that cereulide production is controlled by multiple factors (from type of strain to temperature) and that prolonged storage time plays a crucial role for consumer safety.
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute of Public Health, 14 rue Juliette Wytsman, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Delbrassinne
authors.forename: Mirjana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Andjelkovic
authors.forename: Andreja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rajkovic
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bottledoorn
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mahillon
authors.forename: Joris
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Loco
mesh_terms: D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D047630:Depsipeptides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D005511:Food Handling; D005516:Food Microbiology; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D047630:Depsipeptides; C089294:cereulide