Key Factors Influencing <i>Bacillus cereus</i> Contamination in Hot Ready-to-Eat Meal Delivery
With increasing popularity of food delivery services, the microbial safety of transported meals should be ensured. An effect of the type of a meal (cooked rice; mashed potatoes; mushroom sauce), inner primary packaging (sugarcane bagasse [SB] tray; polypropylene [PP] tray), secondary container (poly...
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MDPI AG
2025-07-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/15/2605 |
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| author | Tomáš Komprda Olga Cwiková Vojtěch Kumbár Gabriela Franke Petr Kouřil Ondřej Patloka Josef Kameník Marta Dušková Alena Zouharová |
| author_facet | Tomáš Komprda Olga Cwiková Vojtěch Kumbár Gabriela Franke Petr Kouřil Ondřej Patloka Josef Kameník Marta Dušková Alena Zouharová |
| author_sort | Tomáš Komprda |
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| description | With increasing popularity of food delivery services, the microbial safety of transported meals should be ensured. An effect of the type of a meal (cooked rice; mashed potatoes; mushroom sauce), inner primary packaging (sugarcane bagasse [SB] tray; polypropylene [PP] tray), secondary container (polyester/polyethylene foam/aluminum foil [PPA] bag; PP box) on the time interval of the internal hot ready-to-eat (RTE) meal temperature decrease to the value critical for <i>Bacillus cereus</i> growth (40 °C) was tested during a simulated delivery; in aliquot samples of the same meals, <i>B. cereus</i> growth was quantified presuming a natural contamination of the meals. Type of a meal had no effect on the tested time interval (<i>p</i> > 0.05). Packaging a meal in the PP tray as compared to the SB tray and inserting primary trays into the PP box instead of PPA bag delayed (<i>p</i> < 0.05) the internal meal temperature decrease by 50 and 15 min, respectively. Average <i>B. cereus</i> counts in the naturally contaminated meals after the four-hour culturing at 40 °C was 2.99 log CFU·g<sup>−1</sup>. It was concluded that a hot RTE meal delivered up to four hours under the tested conditions is not likely to facilitate <i>B. cereus</i> growth above unacceptable levels. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b388d411e6bf4f828a9359ff85ff3849 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2304-8158 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Foods |
| spelling | doaj-art-b388d411e6bf4f828a9359ff85ff38492025-08-20T03:36:01ZengMDPI AGFoods2304-81582025-07-011415260510.3390/foods14152605Key Factors Influencing <i>Bacillus cereus</i> Contamination in Hot Ready-to-Eat Meal DeliveryTomáš Komprda0Olga Cwiková1Vojtěch Kumbár2Gabriela Franke3Petr Kouřil4Ondřej Patloka5Josef Kameník6Marta Dušková7Alena Zouharová8Department of Food Technology, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 61300 Brno, Czech RepublicDepartment of Food Technology, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 61300 Brno, Czech RepublicDepartment of Technology and Automobile Transport, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 61300 Brno, Czech RepublicDepartment of Food Technology, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 61300 Brno, Czech RepublicDepartment of Food Technology, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 61300 Brno, Czech RepublicDepartment of Food Technology, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 61300 Brno, Czech RepublicDepartment of Animal Origin Food and Gastronomic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, Palackého tř. 1946/1, 61242 Brno, Czech RepublicDepartment of Animal Origin Food and Gastronomic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, Palackého tř. 1946/1, 61242 Brno, Czech RepublicDepartment of Animal Origin Food and Gastronomic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, Palackého tř. 1946/1, 61242 Brno, Czech RepublicWith increasing popularity of food delivery services, the microbial safety of transported meals should be ensured. An effect of the type of a meal (cooked rice; mashed potatoes; mushroom sauce), inner primary packaging (sugarcane bagasse [SB] tray; polypropylene [PP] tray), secondary container (polyester/polyethylene foam/aluminum foil [PPA] bag; PP box) on the time interval of the internal hot ready-to-eat (RTE) meal temperature decrease to the value critical for <i>Bacillus cereus</i> growth (40 °C) was tested during a simulated delivery; in aliquot samples of the same meals, <i>B. cereus</i> growth was quantified presuming a natural contamination of the meals. Type of a meal had no effect on the tested time interval (<i>p</i> > 0.05). Packaging a meal in the PP tray as compared to the SB tray and inserting primary trays into the PP box instead of PPA bag delayed (<i>p</i> < 0.05) the internal meal temperature decrease by 50 and 15 min, respectively. Average <i>B. cereus</i> counts in the naturally contaminated meals after the four-hour culturing at 40 °C was 2.99 log CFU·g<sup>−1</sup>. It was concluded that a hot RTE meal delivered up to four hours under the tested conditions is not likely to facilitate <i>B. cereus</i> growth above unacceptable levels.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/15/2605food safetypathogenic bacteriacooked ricesugarcane bagassepolypropylene |
| spellingShingle | Tomáš Komprda Olga Cwiková Vojtěch Kumbár Gabriela Franke Petr Kouřil Ondřej Patloka Josef Kameník Marta Dušková Alena Zouharová Key Factors Influencing <i>Bacillus cereus</i> Contamination in Hot Ready-to-Eat Meal Delivery Foods food safety pathogenic bacteria cooked rice sugarcane bagasse polypropylene |
| title | Key Factors Influencing <i>Bacillus cereus</i> Contamination in Hot Ready-to-Eat Meal Delivery |
| title_full | Key Factors Influencing <i>Bacillus cereus</i> Contamination in Hot Ready-to-Eat Meal Delivery |
| title_fullStr | Key Factors Influencing <i>Bacillus cereus</i> Contamination in Hot Ready-to-Eat Meal Delivery |
| title_full_unstemmed | Key Factors Influencing <i>Bacillus cereus</i> Contamination in Hot Ready-to-Eat Meal Delivery |
| title_short | Key Factors Influencing <i>Bacillus cereus</i> Contamination in Hot Ready-to-Eat Meal Delivery |
| title_sort | key factors influencing i bacillus cereus i contamination in hot ready to eat meal delivery |
| topic | food safety pathogenic bacteria cooked rice sugarcane bagasse polypropylene |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/15/2605 |
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