1. Intended Use

Usage of Compact Dry BC Bacillus cereus is a simple and safe test procedure for determination and quantification of Bacillus cereus in foods or raw materials. The ready-to-use plates consist of a special 50 mm diameter petri dish containing a detection specific nutrient pad.

2. General Information

- The Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus cereus is able to produce long lasting spores and is commonly found in soil and water. Therefore, it enters the food processing chain relatively easy. B. cereus can spoil foods; furthermore, its emetic and diarrheagenic enterotoxins cause vomiting and diarrhea after consumption. Routine testing procedures for B. cereus are thus recommended.

- Compact Dry BC Bacillus cereus plates are incubated at 30 °C for 24 hours. Due to the chromogenic substances in the medium, B. cereus grows as green-blue colonies. If bacteria other than Bacillus cereus grow on the plate, they usually produce white colonies. The non-pathogenic organism Bacillus thuringiensis which is a close relative to B. cereus has the same biochemical properties. It can therefore also grow and produce green-blue colonies on Compact Dry BC.

- The ready-to-use, chromogenic Compact Dry plates are suitable for in-process controls as well as controls of finished products. With the optional additional product Promedia ST-25 swab test (Z0302) Compact Dry plates may also be used for surface sampling and therefore applied for quantitative hygiene monitoring even at surfaces which are difficult to
reach.

- Compact Dry BC Bacillus cereus is a ready-to-use selective dehydrated media plate for Bacillus cereus detection that uses chromogenic media to give green/blue colonies after incubation.