Effectiveness of cleaning and disinfection procedures on the removal of enterotoxigenic Bacillus cereus from infant feeding bottles

Abstract

Reconstituted infant milk formulas are considered a food class of high risk because of the susceptibility of the infant population to enteric bacterial pathogens, severe response to enterotoxins, and increased mortality. Twenty infant feeding bottles, contaminated with different levels of enterotoxigenic Bacillus cereus, were subjected in triplicate to a variety of commonly used cleaning and disinfecting procedures. Although thorough cleaning reduced microbial numbers, it did not remove all B. cereus present. Three commercially available disinfection procedures (i.e., one chemical and two thermal) successfully eliminated this organism when the level of contamination was <105 organisms ml-1. However, the chemical disinfection method failed to eliminate enterotoxigenic B. cereus totally at potentially hazardous contamination levels (i.e., ≤ 105 organisms ml-1) that may be encountered under storage abuse conditions in the home.