Occurrence of Bacillus cereus and other Bacillus spp. in spices

A total of 200 samples of various spices, obtained mainly from meat product factories of Northern Italy, and including 61 samples of white and black pepper, 34 samples of red chilli, 20 samples of spice blends, 18 samples of nutmeg and 67 samples of miscellaneous spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, macis, garlic, oregano), were examined for the presence of Bacillus cereus and other Bacillus species. About 87 % of the samples were contaminated by Bacillus spp., with counts ranging from 10 2 to 10 7 cfu/g. B. cereus was detected in 8 (4 %) samples at levels ranging between 1 x 10 3 for cloves and 8 x 10 5 cfu/g for white pepper. Among the other species, B. licheniformis was the most frequently isolated, followed by B. pumilus, B. stearothermophilus, B. subtilis and B. amyloliquefaciens.