Monitoring of Bacillus cereus in rice pudding

Abstract

Bacillus cereus is considered to be the most common pathogenic bacillus species found in raw milk and at all stages of dairy processing. Cinnamon essential oil is considered a suitable source of antimicrobial and antifungal compounds; therefore, the objective of this study was to reveal microbiologically the presence of Bacillus cereus in dairy products by using HiCrome™ Bacillus Agar and evaluating the significance of added cinnamon on the growth of Bacillus cereus in prepared rice pudding. The mean values of B. cereus count in the examined 50 rice pudding was 2.1×10 5 ± 7.4×10 4 (cfu /g). The addition of cinnamon powder to rice pudding significantly affects the viability of B. cereus in investigated samples ( p ≥ 0.05 ), as the reduction % in the count of B. cereus at 0.5 and 1 % cinnamon concentrations after 12, 24, 36 and 48 hr. were 23.91, 82.22, 94.71, 24.14 %, and 60.87, 99.07, 99.99, 99.89 %, respectively.