Risk of <i>Bacillus cereus</i> in Relation to Rice and Derivatives

• Main Authors: Dolores Rodrigo, Cristina M. Rosell, Antonio Martinez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-02-01
• Series: Foods
• Subjects: <i>Bacillus cereus</i>; rice; poisoning
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/10/2/302

Rice is a very popular food throughout the world and the basis of the diet of the citizens of many countries. It is used as a raw material for the preparation of many complex dishes in which different ingredients are involved. Rice, as a consequence of their cultivation, harvesting, and handling, is often contaminated with spores of <i>Bacillus cereus</i>, a ubiquitous microorganism found mainly in the soil. <i>B. cereus</i> can multiply under temperature conditions as low as 4 °C in foods that contain rice and have been cooked or subjected to treatments that do not produce commercial sterility. <i>B. cereus</i> produces diarrhoeal or emetic foodborne toxin when the consumer eats food in which a sufficient number of cells have grown. These circumstances mean that every year many outbreaks of intoxication or intestinal problems related to this microorganism are reported. This work is a review from the perspective of risk assessment of the risk posed by <i>B. cereus</i> to the health of consumers and of some control measures that can be used to mitigate such a risk.