Incidence and characterization of Bacillus cereus isolates contaminating dairy products

A total of 293 dairy products purchased from local markets were examined to determine the incidence of and characterize Bacillus cereus. Isolations were made on mannitol-egg yolk-polymyxin B agar medium and confirmed by several staining and biochemical tests. B. cereus occurred in 17% of fermented milks, 52% of ice creams, 35% of soft ice creams, 2% of pasteurized milks and pasteurized fruit- or nut-flavored reconstituted milks, and 29% of milk powders, mostly in fruit- or nut-flavored milk mixes. The average population of B. cereus in these dairy products was 15 to 280 CFU/ml or CFU/g (range, 5 to 800). The characteristics of these B. cereus isolates in terms of heat resistance, biochemical reactions, and antibiotic susceptibility were similar to previously reported data except for a higher utilization of sucrose. Some isolates were especially resistant to carbenicillin, nalidixic acid, streptomycin, and tetracycline. The MICs for the isolates were also determined. All of the tested isolates lysed rabbit erythrocytes; 98% showed verotoxicity, 68% showed cytotonic toxicity for CHO cells, and 3 of 11 selected isolates that showed strong hemolysin activity killed adult mice.