{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T05:06:22Z","timestamp":1790139982653,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789948800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research","award":["2020B0301030005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2020B0301030005"]}]},{"name":"Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation","award":["2023A1515030137"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023A1515030137"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study investigated the prevalence and genomic characteristics of Bacillus cereus group organisms in animal-origin foods sold in Guangzhou, China. A total of 505 retail samples, including 117 milk samples and 388 commercially available smoked sausage products, were collected from supermarkets and farmers\u2019 markets. The isolation rates of B. cereus group organisms were 8.5% in milk and 44.9% in smoked sausages. Whole-genome sequencing of 169 isolates showed that antimicrobial-resistance genes, including bacII, fosB and vanZF, and diarrheal virulence-associated genes, including nheA, nheB and nheC, were widely distributed among the isolates. Most representative isolates showed biofilm-forming ability, and three antimicrobial-resistant isolates carrying multiple virulence-associated genes showed pathogenic potential in mice under high-dose experimental administration. These findings indicate that retail smoked sausage products can serve as a reservoir of B. cereus group organisms with antimicrobial-resistance, virulence-associated and biofilm-forming traits. However, the detection of resistance- or virulence-associated genes does not necessarily prove gene expression, toxin production, phenotypic resistance or consumer exposure risk. This study did not directly evaluate growth of B. cereus in sausage matrices during storage. Therefore, the present results indicate a potential microbiological hazard rather than a quantified consumer risk. Product-specific challenge studies under defined storage conditions are required to determine whether B. cereus can proliferate in particular sausage products and reach hazardous levels at consumption.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms14092116","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T11:05:53Z","timestamp":1789988753000},"page":"2116","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Distribution Characteristics of Antimicrobial-Resistance and Virulence-Associated Genes of Bacillus cereus in Animal-Origin Food in Guangzhou, China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Weiqi","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Laboratory of Safety Evaluation (Environmental Assessment) of Veterinary Drugs, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Wanxin","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Laboratory of Safety Evaluation (Environmental Assessment) of Veterinary Drugs, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Zhengyuan","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Laboratory of Safety Evaluation (Environmental Assessment) of Veterinary Drugs, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Peng","family":"Wan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Laboratory of Safety Evaluation (Environmental Assessment) of Veterinary Drugs, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Juntao","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Laboratory of Safety Evaluation (Environmental Assessment) of Veterinary Drugs, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Wenguang","family":"Xiong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Laboratory of Safety Evaluation (Environmental Assessment) of Veterinary Drugs, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Reference Laboratory of Veterinary Drug Residues, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Zhenling","family":"Zeng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Laboratory of Safety Evaluation (Environmental Assessment) of Veterinary Drugs, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"},{"name":"National Reference Laboratory of Veterinary Drug Residues, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"811","article-title":"Isolation and identification of pathogenic Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus","volume":"46","author":"Yin","year":"2019","journal-title":"Microbiol. China"},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"286","article-title":"Survey on contamination of Bacillus cereus and its virulence gene profiles isolated from retail infant formula in China","volume":"27","author":"Yan","year":"2015","journal-title":"Chin. J. Food Hyg."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"1084","article-title":"Monitoring results of food safety risk pathogenic bacteria in Changsha City during 2020","volume":"31","author":"Song","year":"2024","journal-title":"Pract. Prev. Med."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1885","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodres.2009.10.024","article-title":"Adaptation of Bacillus cereus, an ubiquitous worldwide-distributed foodborne pathogen, to a changing environment","volume":"43","author":"Carlin","year":"2010","journal-title":"Food Res. Int."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"170903","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2024.170903","article-title":"Prevalence and genomic characterization of the Bacillus cereus group strains contamination in food products in Southern China","volume":"921","author":"Zheng","year":"2024","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"(2014). National Food Safety Standard: Microbiological Examination of Foods\u2014Examination of Bacillus cereus (Standard No. GB 4789.14-2014). (In Chinese)."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e15","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gku1196","article-title":"Rapid phylogenetic analysis of large samples of recombinant bacterial whole genome sequences using Gubbins","volume":"43","author":"Croucher","year":"2015","journal-title":"Nucleic Acids Res."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2688","DOI":"10.1093\/bioinformatics\/btl446","article-title":"RAxML-VI-HPC: Maximum likelihood-based phylogenetic analyses with thousands of taxa and mixed models","volume":"22","author":"Stamatakis","year":"2006","journal-title":"Bioinformatics"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"51","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jef.2016.01.004","article-title":"Portuguese traditional sausages: Different types, nutritional composition, and novel trends","volume":"3","author":"Marcos","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Ethn. Foods"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"279","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2009.06.025","article-title":"The effect of starter cultures on proteolytic changes and amino acid content in fermented sausages","volume":"119","author":"Aro","year":"2010","journal-title":"Food Chem."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2844","DOI":"10.1080\/10408398.2015.1074533","article-title":"Quality, functionality, and shelf life of fermented meat and meat products: A review","volume":"57","author":"Kumar","year":"2017","journal-title":"Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"591","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodcont.2013.01.050","article-title":"Effects of inoculating lactobacillus sakei starter cultures on the microbiological quality and nitrite depletion of chinese fermented sausages","volume":"32","author":"Wang","year":"2013","journal-title":"Food Control"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodcont.2022.109250","article-title":"A systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of Bacillus cereus in foods","volume":"143","author":"Rahnama","year":"2023","journal-title":"Food Control"},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Li, K. (2019). Study on Risk Assessment and Control Technology of Bacillus cereus from Meat and Meat Products. [Master\u2019s Thesis, Jinan University]."},{"key":"ref_15","first-page":"123","article-title":"Bacteriological quality of sausage sold in great cairo area","volume":"3","year":"2022","journal-title":"Egypt. J. Agron."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Li, L., Zou, D., Ruan, L., Wen, Z., Chen, S., Xu, L., and Wei, X. (2019). Evaluation of the biogenic amines and microbial contribution in traditional chinese sausages. Front. Microbiol., 10.","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2019.00872"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"547","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodcont.2013.05.018","article-title":"The microbiological quality of ready-to-eat food in siu mei and lo mei shops in hong kong","volume":"34","author":"Ng","year":"2013","journal-title":"Food Control"},{"key":"ref_18","first-page":"1491","article-title":"Identification and pathogenicity analysis of a strain Bacillus cereus isolated from milk-derived","volume":"40","author":"Yi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Chin. J. Vet. Sci."},{"key":"ref_19","first-page":"1366","article-title":"Reseach progress in prediction models and risk assessment of Bacillus cereus contamination in food","volume":"34","author":"Wang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Chin. J. Food Hyg."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Jing, W. (2016). The Risk of Harmful Microorganisms in Fermented Meat Product. [Master\u2019s Thesis, Tianjin University of Science and Technology]."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"EFSA Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) (2016). Risks for public health related to the presence of Bacillus cereus and other Bacillus spp. including Bacillus thuringiensis in foodstuffs. EFSA J., 14, 4524.","DOI":"10.2903\/j.efsa.2016.4524"},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"(2021). National Food Safety Standard: Limits of Pathogens in Prepackaged Foods (Standard No. GB 29921-2021). (In Chinese)."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"276","DOI":"10.1093\/femsre\/fux010","article-title":"Molecular mechanisms of biofilm-based antibiotic resistance and tolerance in pathogenic bacteria","volume":"41","author":"Hall","year":"2017","journal-title":"FEMS Microbiol. Rev."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"320","DOI":"10.1128\/JCM.02848-12","article-title":"Pathogenic potential of Bacillus cereus strains as revealed by phenotypic analysis","volume":"51","author":"Kamar","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Clin. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"140","DOI":"10.3934\/microbiol.2018.1.140","article-title":"Bacterial autoaggregation","volume":"4","author":"Trunk","year":"2018","journal-title":"Aims Microbiol."}],"container-title":["Microorganisms"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2607\/14\/9\/2116\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T04:25:11Z","timestamp":1790137511000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2607\/14\/9\/2116"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]]},"references-count":25,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]}},"alternative-id":["microorganisms14092116"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/microorganisms14092116","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-2607"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-2607","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]]}}}