Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence, distribution of enterotoxins and antibiotic resistance of B. cereus in milk-based infant foods. Methods: Three-hundred milk-based infant foods were collected and immediately transferred to the laboratory. Samples were cultured and B. cereus isolates were also confirmed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based detection of gyrB gene. B. cereus strains were subjected to disk diffusion and PCR-based detection of enterotoxigenic genes. Results: Prevalence of B. cereus in infant foods was 3 . Contamination was in the range of 12.5 41.5 CFU/g. Brand D had the highest prevalence of B. cereus (6.2 ). NheA (88.8 ), nheC (55.5 ) and entFM (55.5 ) were the most commonly detected enterotoxigenic genes. Bacteria showed the highest prevalence of resistance against penicillin (100 ), tetracycline (77.7 ) and oxacillin (66.6 ). Prevalence of resistance against two antibiotics were 100 . Conclusion: Considerable prevalence of resistant and toxigenic B. cereus and high consumption of milk-based infant foods in Iran, represent an important public health issue which should be considered for further preventive approaches.