FST-602 Food Safety

Bacterial food intoxication

Lecture # 6

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Prepared by:
Miss Sidra-tul-Muntaha
2 Contents

 Introduction
 Bacterial food intoxication
 Bacillus cereus
 Toxins
 Food implicated
 Toxicity symptoms
 Prevention
 Reference
3 Introduction

 Bacteria are minute unicellular organisms which can only be

observed with the aid of a microscope.
 They belong to the class of microorganisms known as
Schizomycetes.
 They are ubiquitous creatures and widely distributed in nature.
 Although soil is their natural habitat, they are found in such
environments as water, air, plant and animal surfaces.
 They are also present in gastrointestinal tract of man, animals and
insects.
4 Conti..

 The various groups of bacteria show marked differences in

their growth requirements;
 some grow at low temperature (psychrophiles)
 most of bacteria grow at moderate temperature (mesophiles)
 while a few like high temperature (thermophiles)
 Some may live in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic)
 others must have oxygen to perform their normal life functions
(aerobic).
 Bacteria prefer a pH range near the neutral (7.0)
 most will not grow below a pH of 3.5.
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Conti…
 Bacteria are of great economic significance to man.
 In the food and pharmaceutical industries they are used in the
production of several vital products like vitamins, organic acids,
enzymes, antibiotics and amino acids.
 They have been used as agents for the preservation of foods and
production of new food products.
 On the other hand, uncontrolled activities of these organisms can
prove catastrophic to these industries; contamination with
unwanted bacteria can actually ruin a production process..
 They are also responsible for numerous diseases in man, animals
and plants
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Conti…
 Bacteria are very closely associated with our foods.
 They also need the same food and nutrients for their growth.
 When they contaminate foods, they produce such products which often
render them unfit for human consumption.
 Some bacteria species are capable of producing different types of
endotoxins and exotoxins.
 The endotoxins are produced within the bacterial cells and are only
released in the environment when the organism is dead.
 On the other hand, exotoxins are proteinaceous compounds which are
heat, labile, highly specific for certain tissues and released in the
environment by living bacteria.
7 Bacterial food intoxication

 Bacterial food intoxication is caused by the ingestion of foods

containing exotoxins.
 When such foods are consumed, the exotoxins act on the specific
tissues and result in an illness, commonly known as food
intoxication.
 In this type of illness the presence of living bacterial cells at the
time of consumption food is not essential.
 Bacillus cereus, Clostridium botulinum and Staphylococcus
aureus are common organisms responsible for food intoxication
through the production of exotoxins in foods.
8 Bacillus cereus

Bacillus cereus is commonly found in soil dust. Water on green

vegetables potatoes and cereals.
It is rod-shaped facultative aerobic, lactose fermenting, B-
haemoiyilc, proteolytic and spore forming bacterium.
The organism is mesophilic and grows best at around 35°C (range
10-45°C)
The spores are often found in cereals and other foods.
The spores being heat resistant, survive cooking and may germinate
and grow in slowly cooled cooked foods when left under warm
storage conditions.
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Bacillus cereus
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Toxins produce by Bacillus cereus
 Emetic strains of Bacillus cereus produce an emetic toxin (ETE) known as cereulide.
This emetic toxin is highly resistant to heat, to proteolytic cleavage and to pH between
2 and 11.
 Other food poisoning strains produce three different enterotoxins: HbL, Nhe, and EntK.
 Two of these three enterotoxins are involved in food poisoning.
 One enterotoxin, haemolysin BL (Hbl), is haemolytic, while the second is non-
haemoiytic enterotoxin (Nhe).
 The heat labile , non-haemolytic enterotoxin (Nhe) is one of the three component
enterotoxins responsible for diarrhoea in Bacillus cereus food poisoning.
 The third enterotoxin, cytotoxin K (EntK), is not involved in food poisoning.
 All the three enterotoxins are cytotoxic and cell membrane active toxins that will make
holes or channels in membranes.
11 Food implicated

 A number of foods like meat loaf, corn flour sauces and rice
dishes (boiled and tired rice) have been implicated with outbreaks
of Bacillus cereus intoxication.
 Most often boiled and fried rice in in ‘take-away’ restaurants have
been responsible for the illness.
 Food intoxication by Bacillus cereus is Common in most rice-
eating countries.
 Outbreaks have often have associated with rice which is either
not given adequate preparatory treatment or is cooked well in
advance of use so that the spores which might have survived the
heat treatment germinate and multiply.
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13 Mechanism of pathogenicity
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Symptoms of toxicity
 B. cereus is responsible for causing two types of food-borne illnesses.
 One type, the "short-incubation" or emetic form' of the disease is characterized
by nausea, vomiting and abdominal cramps.
 It has an incubation period of 1 to 6 hours, it is caused by preformed, heat-
stable emetic toxin, ETE.
 The second type "long-incubation" or diarrhoea form of the disease is
manifested primarily by abdominal cramps and diarrhoea following an
incubation period of 8 to 16 hours,
15 Conti…

 Diarrhoea may be a small volume or profuse and watery.

 The Iong-incubation form of illness is mediated by the
heat-liabile diarrhoeagenic enterotoxin Nhe and/or
haemolytic enterotoxin Hbl, which cause intestinal fluid
secretion, probably by several mechanisms, including
pore formation and activation of adenylate cyclase
enzymes.
 In both types, the illness usually lasts less than 24 hours
after onset. In few patients symptoms may last longer.
16 Prevention

 The short-incubation form of B. cereus poisoning is most often associated with rice dishes
that have been cooked and then held at warm temperatures for several hours.
 Long-incubation B. cereus food poisonings frequently associated with meat or vegetable-
containing foods.
 The best precautionary measure against Bacillus cereus intoxication is to prevent
multiplication of the organism by avoiding preparing rice well in advance of consumption.
 It is preferable to have shorter intervals between cooking and eating.
 In case the rice has to be stored after cooking, it should either be kept hot (above 60°C) or
quickly cooled and refrigerated(4°C).
 Thorough cleaning of the kitchen surfaces, equipment and removal of cereal dust from
storage and preparation areas can help reduce the chances of food contamination by this
organism.
17 Reference

 Awan J.A and Anjum F.M. 2019. Food toxicology.

Unitech Communications, Faisalabad.