TITLE:
Isolation of Bacillus cereus in a Facility Preparing School Meals
AUTHORS:
Francesca Garofalo, Anna Cutarelli, Rita Nappi, Assunta De Lella, Marcella Palomba, Salvatore Capo, Angela Michela Immacolata Montone, Loredana Biondi, Federica Corrado
KEYWORDS:
Bacillus cereus, Food-Borne Disease, School Meals, Enterotoxin Genes
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.11 No.3,
March
5,
2020
ABSTRACT: Food safety is a fundamental requirement in mass catering, as large
numbers of meals are served each day to potentially vulnerable consumers, such
as children. Food Business Operators implement plans for the microbiological
monitoring of the meals prepared and served in the catering sector, and for the
swab-sampling of surfaces. From January 2018 to June 2019, our laboratory
analyzed both food and swab samples from four catering facilities. Considering
the EFSA 2018 data, we specifically focused on samples analyzed for Bacillus cereus. Our data
substantially showed episodic contamination due to a piece of equipment that is
not usually subjected to microbiological control, thus suggesting that every
aspect should be scrutinized in order to identify critical points. While Bacillus cereus is widespread
in nature and common in soil, it is adapted for growth in the intestinal tracts
of insects and mammals. It is often present in a variety of foods, and may
cause an emetic or a diarrheal type of food-associated illness. B. cereus produces several
toxins. Multiplex PCR enables seven toxin genes to be detected (hblC, hblD, hblA, nheA, nheB, nheC and cytK).