Evaluation of the presence of cereulide in food products collected from the Belgian market

Abstract

Background: Certain strains of Bacillus cereus can produce the emetic toxin cereulide, which is known to cause acute food poisoning. Cereulide, however, also has the potential to cause chronic toxicity due to repeat sub-emetic exposure to the toxin. In this study the presence of B. cereus and cereulide in food stuffs from the Refrigerated Processed Foods of Extended Durability group, containing either pasta or rice, collected from the Belgian market was assessed, in order to evaluate the routes by which contamination with cereulide can occur and verify the presence or absence of the toxin in sub-emetic doses. Findings: The results showed that only a small portion of the samples contained a very low total count of B. cereus, too low to cause illness, the other samples were negative. Conclusions: Cereulide was not detected in any of the collected samples, which supports the theory that contamination most likely occurs due to improper storage and unhygienic conditions.