Bacillus cereus associated food borne disease : quantitative aspects of exposure assessment and hazard characterization

The consumption of food contaminated with the bacterium Bacillus cereus may lead to either symptoms of vomiting or symptoms of diarrhoea. As the symptoms are rather mild, few patients seek medical attention. Therefore, it is hard to estimate the number of cases. To improve estimation of this number and to gather more insight into factors that may determine the chance for disease, the following aspects have been investigated: the prevalence of B. cereus in food commodities in the Netherlands, the survival of B. cereus in simulated gastric fluid and the growth potential in simulated intestinal fluid, the interaction between B. cereus and intestinal cells, and the production of toxins that cause the disease symptoms. Together with literature data the results of these investigations have been used to determine the chance for disease by B. cereus. In combination with the number of meals that are consumed and that are contaminated with B. cereus, the yearly number of disease cases in the Netherlands has been estimated using different scenarios.