Pathology

Biotechnology

Bacillus cereus

Diarrheal diseases

Bacteria

Escherichia coli

Enterotoxin

Biology

Microbiology

Gene

Food poisoning

Diarrhea

Cereus

Food microbiology

Diarrheal disease

Food science

Genetics

Biochemistry

Medicine

Food processing

Toxins

The ubiquitous soil bacterium Bacillus cereus presents major challenges to food safety. It is responsible for two types of food poisoning, the emetic form due to food intoxication and the diarrheal form emerging from food infections with enteropathogenic strains, also known as toxico-infections, which are the subject of this review. The diarrheal type of food poisoning emerges after production of enterotoxins by viable bacteria in the human intestine. Basically, the manifestation of the disease is, however, the result of a multifactorial process, including B. cereus prevalence and survival in different foods, survival of the stomach passage, spore germination, motility, adhesion, and finally enterotoxin production in the intestine. Moreover, all of these processes are influenced by the consumed foodstuffs as well as the intestinal microbiota which have, therefore, to be considered for a reliable prediction of the hazardous potential of contaminated foods. Current knowledge regarding these single aspects is summarized in this review aiming for risk-oriented diagnostics for enteropathogenic B. cereus.

The Bacillus cereus Food Infection as Multifactorial Process