Abstract
(1) Background: Foodborne illnesses are recognized as a significant threat to public health and the economy in both developed and developing nations. The safety of foods containing microorganisms has consequently become a major worldwide concern. One of the most frequent causes of food deterioration in the world is microbial contamination. (2) Methods: Yogurt containers that were bought commercially in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during their validity period contained four different species of bacteria and one type of fungus. Using nutritional agar and Czapek-Dox agar medium, the bacteria and fungi were isolated. The isolates of the fungi and bacteria were identified using a scanning microscope. The isolates were further identified and classified for molecular evolutionary analyses using the 16S rRNA and ITS sequences from the bacteria and fungi, respectively, in conjunction with the universal primers 27F, 1492R, ITS1F, and ITS4R. (3) Results: A total of 131 separate strains were identified from 12 yogurt samples based on their phenotypic characteristics. In total, 79 isolates (60.3%) consisted of Serratia marcescens, Bacillus subtilis, and Mucor circinelloides, with 52 isolates (39.7%) being Bacillus cereus. While the cells of Bacillus and Serratia are shaped like rods, the sporangia of Mucor are large, round, and black. Each strain was identified by its accession number, which were as follows: MK590996.1: B. cereus; MK591144.1: B. subtilis; MK591002.1 and MK591014.1: S. marcescens; and MK559692.1: M. circinelloides. The maximum identification was found to be between 98.64 and 100% when BLAST was used to compare the sequences to the NCBI GeneBank database. (4) Conclusions: Genus and species identification was performed using the similarity score values. Yogurt products containing high concentrations (39.7%) of Bacillus cereus isolates carry a significant risk of health hazards due to the potential for spreading pathogenic bacteria to humans.
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