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Bacillus Cereus Assessment in Dried Vegetables Distributed in Tehran, Iran Publisher



Ghourchian S1 ; Douraghi M2 ; Baghani A2 ; Soltan Dallal MM3
Authors
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Authors Affiliations
  1. 1. Division of Food Microbiology, Department of Pathobiology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Med ical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  2. 2. Division of Medical Bacteriology, Department of Pathobiology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  3. 3. Food Microbiology Research Center/ Division of Food Microbiology, Department of Pathobiology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Source: Journal of Food Quality and Hazards Control Published:2018


Abstract

Background: Bacillus cereus is one of the important agents of the food-borne diseases worldwide. In the present study, the dried vegetable samples distributed in Tehran, Iran were evaluated in order to isolation, identification, and enumeration of B. cereus. Methods: A total of 140 samples containing open and packed dried vegetables were randomly purchased from different areas of Tehran, Iran from March to August 2015. Dried vegetable samples were equally divided into seven groups, including dill, parsley, coriander, tarragon, mint, his, and pot roast. After culturing of samples, isolated B. cereus colonies were enumerated and identified using biochemical tests. The statistical tests were done by SPSS 16 (Chicago, IL, USA) software. Results: Totally, 44 out of 140 (31.4%) dried vegetable samples were contaminated with B. cereus. The B. cereus contamination were found in 25 out of 70 (35.7%) and 19 out of 70 (27.1%) open and packed dried vegetable samples, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05) between contamination rate of B. cereus in open and packed dried vegetable samples. Also, contamination rate of B. cereus was not significantly different (p>0.05) among various kinds of vegetable samples. Conclusion: Our study showed that dried vegetables sampled from Tehran, capital of Iran were contaminated with B. cereus. More researches are required in order to evaluate the prevalence of B. cereus contamination in raw and fresh vegetable samples consumed in the country. © 2018, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences.