Incidence and enterotoxigenic profile of Bacillus cereus in meat and meat products of Uttarakhand, India.
The present investigation was undertaken to study the incidence and enterotoxigenicity of Bacillus cereus in raw meat and meat products. B. cereus was isolated from 29 (30.9 %) of the 94 samples analyzed. Recorded incidences of B. cereus from raw meat and meat products samples were 27.8 and 35 %, respectively. A high level of organism was found in cooked-meat (35 %) than raw meat samples (27.78 %) from 40 cooked-meat products and 54 raw meat samples analyzed. Screening of isolates by multiplex polymerase chain reaction revealed the overall distribution of various enterotoxin genes hblDAC complex, nheABC complex, cytK and entFM as 55.2, 89.7, 41.4 and 93 %, respectively. The level of contamination with B. cereus was moderately higher in some samples but did not exceed the level which is sufficient to induce food poisoning. A relatively higher incidence of B. cereus in meat products, with the majority of isolates harboring all the enterotoxin genes can pose a potential public health threat.
School of Public Health & Zoonoses, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141004 India.
Anita
A
Tewari
Department of Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology, Govind Ballabh Pant Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttrakhand India.
S P
SP
Singh
Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhaya Pashu Chikitsa Vigyan Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh India.
Rashmi
R
Singh
Bacillus cereus; Enterotoxin gene; Enumeration; Meat; Meat products; PCR