Research Publications (Food Safety)

Antibiotic resistance, which has increased rapidly in recent years because of uncontrolled and unconscious antibiotic consumption, poses a major threat to public health. The inadequacy of existing antibiotics has increased the need for new, effective, and less toxic antibiotic raw materials or antibiotic derivatives. Pecan (Carya illinoinensis) and Chestnut (Castanea sativa) flowers possess abundant pollen contents and exhibit similar morphological features.

A tannase-positive Bacillus gottheilii M2S2 and Bacillus cereus M1GT were co-cultivated for the production of gallic acid using tannic acid as the sole carbon source through submerged fermentation. Taguchi orthogonal array of design of experimental methodology was used to estimate the influence and significance of tannic acid concentration, glucose concentration, agitation speed, and inoculum size on the gallic acid production in a shake flask.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. This study aimed to examine the mechanism of membrane damage by chlorogenic acid (CA) on Bacillus cereus and Micrococcus luteus and to apply it to milk and pork to evaluate whether CA could prolong their shelf life. A broth microdilution method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of CA on B. cereus and M. luteus.

Lettuce wraps are popular in Korean cuisine for their high nutritional value and versatility as healthy additions to multiple dishes. Microbial contamination of lettuce is a major concern, as lettuce is consumed fresh without cooking. Among foodborne pathogens, the spore-forming, facultative anaerobic bacterium, Bacillus cereus is one of the frequently detected pathogen in lettuce in Korea.

Bacillus cereus is a ubiquitous and highly resistant food poisoning bacterium that is an important food safety concern. It can contaminate a variety of foods throughout the world. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, a complete search was conducted on the prevalence of B. cereus, worldwide. Between 1990 and 2020, a total of 6035 articles were collected from the databases. By applying explicit criteria, the number of 98 studies was included in this study.

Environmental Microbiology, Accepted Article. Bacillus cereus strain CPT56D-587-MTF (CPTF) was isolated from the highly contaminated Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) subsurface. This site is contaminated with high levels of nitric acid and multiple heavy metals. Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes (V4 region) in sediment from this area revealed an amplicon sequence variant (ASV) with 100% identity to the CPTF 16S rRNA sequence.

Microbiology Resource Announcements, Ahead of Print. Bacteria of the Bacillus cereus group are Gram-positive rods and are widespread in nature, but little information is currently available about their presence in reptiles. Here, we report draft genome sequences of six Bacillus isolates belonging to three species, namely, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus paranthracis, and Bacillus toyonensis, isolated from pet reptiles in Poland.

There is a gradual change in the eating trend of Ghanaians. People now prefer convenient semiprocessed foods as breakfast meals to raw ones. These breakfast meals make use of cereals and grains, which often suffer postharvest losses. Thus, this study was aimed at adding value to these food crops by producing a nutritious convenient breakfast meal in the form of flakes using yellow maize and coconut as main food components.

Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) is being applied increasingly to Bacillus cereus group species; however, misinterpretation of WGS results may have severe consequences. We report 3 cases, 1 of which was an outbreak, in which misinterpretation of B. cereus group WGS results hindered communication within public health and industrial laboratories.

This study aimed to establish a mathematical model capable of predicting the adhesion and biofilm formation by Bacillus cereus isolates on stainless steel surface under different combinations of pH, temperature and time. Logistic regression models were developed to predict the probability of adhesion or biofilm formation on the surface by the pathogen.

The integrated management of water resources is a requirement for environmental preservation and economic development, with the removal of nutrients being one of the main drawbacks.

Insects are increasingly used as alternative protein sources and ingredients of foodstuffs produced in industrial scale.

Background

Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a biopolymer formed by some microbes in response to excess carbon sources or essential nutrient depletion. PHBs are entirely biodegradable into CO2 and H2O under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. It has several applications in various fields such as medicine, pharmacy, agriculture, and food packaging due to its biocompatibility and nontoxicity nature.

Result

Environmental extremes such as hypersaline conditions are significant threats to agricultural productivity. The sustainable use of halophilic microbial strains was evaluated in plant in a salt stress environment. Oxygen-evolving complex (OEC), energy compartmentalization, harvesting efficiencies (LHE), specific energy fluxes (SEF), and nitrogen assimilation of oilseed crops (Sunflower cultivars) in a suboptimal environment was examined.

Bacillus velezensis FTL7 which exhibited potent antimicrobial peptide producing capacity was isolated from a marine sediment sample of the West Coast region, South India, and characterized through experimental and genomic analysis approaches.

Bacillus cereus is a major foodborne bacterial pathogen in the world, which can cause diarrhoea and emetic syndrome. This study aimed to reveal the quantitative prevalence of B. cereus in ready-to-eat (RTE) rice products in Eastern China, and to gain essential information on the genetic and antimicrobial-resistant potential of B. cereus isolates. 91 out of the 1071 samples were positive for B. cereus. The contamination level of B.

Salad and other fresh produce were collected in England from retail and catering during 2020-21 and  were tested for Salmonella, Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC), Listeria , Bacillus cereus , and generic E. coli. Of the 604 samples collected , 57% were from retail and 43% from catering: 61% were either salad leaves or salad leaves mixed with other products. Equal numbers of samples were prepacked or loose and 50% were refrigerated at the time of sampling.

Many prokaryotes are covered by a two-dimensional array of proteinaceous subunits. This surface layers (S-layer) is incompletely characterized for many microorganisms. Here, we studied Bacillus cereus AH187. A genome analysis identified two genes encoding the S-layer proteins SL2 and EA1, which we experimentally confirmed to encode the two protein components of the S-layer covering the surface of B. cereus. Shotgun proteomics analysis indicated that SL2 is the major component of the B.

Foodborne outbreaks are closely associated with the formation of biofilms. However, due to their complexity of the formation and structure, studies of dual-species biofilms are still required. The aim of this study was to analyse the dual-species biofilm of Bacillus cereus and Pseudomonas fluorescens by investigating the interactions between the two species.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ahead of Print. Bacillus cereus sensu lato (s.l.) includes foodborne pathogens, as well as beneficial microorganisms, such as bioinsecticides. Some of the beneficial and commercially used B. cereus s.l. strains have been shown to carry enterotoxin genes, the products of which can cause toxicoinfection in humans.

In this study, we analyzed enterotoxin genes, biofilm formation, and resistance to sixteen antimicrobials and chlorine dioxide (ClO2) in Bacillus cereus group isolates (n = 76) from samples (leaves, seeds, water and nutrients, and soil) from microgreen primary producing farms. Most isolates possessed at least one enterotoxin gene, as well as resistance to β-lactam antimicrobials, and more than half of the isolates showed moderate to strong biofilm-forming ability.

by Anum Fareed, Habiba Zaffar, Muhammad Bilal, Jamshaid Hussain, Colin Jackson, Tatheer Alam Naqvi Synthetic dyes are widely used as colorant compounds in various industries for different purposes. Among all the dyestuffs, azo dyes constitute the largest and the most used class of dyes. These dyes and their intermediate products are common contaminants of ground water and soil in developing countries.

The rhizospheric microbial community affects the population establishment of invasive plants in introduced areas, among which Bacillus has numerous functions in promoting plant growth. This study isolated and enriched the Bacillus community in the rhizospheric soil of the invasive plant Ageratina adenophora and the native accompanying plant Rabdosia amethystoides. The effects of these rhizospheric Bacillus communities on the growth and competition of A. adenophora and R.

Antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) foodborne bacteria causing bacterial infections pose a serious threat to human health. In addition, the ability of some of these bacteria to form biofilms increases the threat level as treatment options may become compromised. The extent of antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation among foodborne pathogens remain uncertain globally due to the lack of systematic reviews.

Cereulide-producing Bacillus cereus , which causes foodborne illnesses with vomiting, and psychrotolerant Bacillus cereus group strains such as Bacillus mycoides , which can grow at ≥7°C and cause spoilage of refrigerated foods, are significant concerns for the food industry. As such, rapid and simple methods to discriminate cereulide-producing B. cereus and psychrotolerant B. cereus group strains from other B. cereus group strains are needed.