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. 1971 Oct;22(4):581–587. doi: 10.1128/am.22.4.581-587.1971

Enumeration and Identification of Bacillus cereus in Foods

I. 24-Hour Presumptive Test Medium

H U Kim 1,2, J M Goepfert 1,2
PMCID: PMC376367  PMID: 4331768

Abstract

An egg yolk-polymyxin medium (KG) for rapid enumeration of Bacillus cereus is described. The test is presumptive in that differentiation of B. cereus (and closely related organisms) from other species is based on the formation of turbidity in the agar surrounding the colonies of the cereus group organisms. The medium is formulated to encourage sporulation and release of free spores for serological confirmatory tests within the 24-hr incubation period. The production of turbidity in egg yolk and free-spore production by 25 strains of B. cereus on KG agar were measured. The recovery of food poisoning strains of B. cereus inoculated into nonsterile food slurries was assessed. A comparison of KG agar and mannitol-egg yolk-polymyxin-agar indicated that the two media were comparable in their abilities to recover low levels of B. cereus from naturally contaminated foods. Since KG agar enhances spore formation by B. cereus, thus permitting early serological testing, its use in screening food products is advocated.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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