Detection of Bacillus cereus Diarrheal Enterotoxin in Raw and Pasteurized Milk

Abstract

Raw and pasteurized milk samples submitted for routine quality analysis were screened for the presence of Bacillus cereus diarrheal enterotoxin (BDE) using the TECRA BDE Visual Immunoassay (VIA) kit. BDE was not detected in 298 raw milk samples tested by the TECRA VIA. B. cereus was isolated from 2 of 298 (0.7%) raw milk samples cultured. Culture supernatants from these isolates were positive for BDE in the TECRA VIA but negative in the Reverse Passive Latex Agglutination (RPLA) test for BDE. Forty-three of 112 (38.4%) pasteurized milk samples incubated at 10°C until their expiry dates were positive for BDE by the TECRA VIA. The same number of samples incubated at 4°C had no detectable levels of enterotoxin. B. cereus in the range of 103 to 106 CFU/ml was isolated from all BDE-positive pasteurized milk samples. BDE was detected in the culture supernatants of all the 43 isolates by TECRA VIA and in 30 of these isolates by RPLA. These results demonstrate that moderate temperature abuse of pasteurized milk may allow the growth of B. cereus and BDE production.