[ExpertScie]

Apart from benefits of bacteria in food industries, some of them are causing food poisoning. For this reason, the purity of culture is important for any fermentation process. The most important part of microbial inoculums preparation is maintenance of purity which helps in avoiding unwanted microorganisms in food processing. Therefore the knowledge of bacteria which may cause or damage food is equally important. Today many bacteria has toxins and also possess the capability to cause disorders like food poisoning in humans and animals. The consumption of these foods may show symptoms like headache, fever, cold, vomiting etc.
One of such bacteria is Bacillus cereus. These bacterial groups consist of six members. These are B.anthracis, B. cereus , B. mycoides, B. pseudomycoides, B weihenstephanensis and B. thuringiensis. These species are closely related and therefore should be placed within one species. B. cereus is many times isolated from variety of foods, fruits and vegetables. This bacterium is soil inhabitant. It causes diarrhea, vomiting and illness simultaneously. It is many a times found in Desserts, meat dishes, dairy products and are associated with diarrheal illness. The toxin has been isolated from these bacteria and is characterized. It is small peptide ring synthesized by enzymes peptide synthetase.
In many outbreaks it has been observed that three typical B.cereus enterotoxins are involved. Two out of three are enterotoxins which are three component proteins and they are related. The third protein is CytK which is one component protein in nature. This species has unique characteristics to adhere to many surfaces and thus they are able to survive normal washing and disinfection.
In such scenario, one needs to have knowledge of such bacteria, their metabolism, habitat, prevention etc, so as to maintain the quality of concern products.