Exposure assessment of Bacillus cereus introduced into reconstituted milk production in China

Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) is one of the common food-borne pathogens in humans and has a high tolerance to the environment. Considering the high lethal temperature of B. cereus spores, it is difficult to be effectively killed by common pasteurization methods, resulting in a certain amount of residual spores in milk. In this paper, a quantitative risk assessment model of B. cereus was constructed to assess the risk of introducing B. cereus in the production of reconstituted milk based on the collected detection data of B. cereus contamination in Chinese milk powder. As a result, it is found that B. cereus is relatively seriously polluted on the pipeline from mixing tank to UHT sterilization (with a mean concentration of 5.17 log cfu) in the production process of reconstituted milk. This study provides a theoretical basis for formulating B. cereus contamination control measures in the production of reconstituted milk related products.