• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.356-360
• /
• 2023

We analyzed the heat resistance of non-pathogenic Bacillus atrophaeus, Bacillus subtilis, and Geobacillus stearothermophilus spores which exhibit strong heat resistance and evaluated the possibility of using them to determine direct sterilization when manufacturing retort foods. The D₁₂₁-values of B. subtilis, G. stearothermophilus, and B. atrophaeus spores were 2.9±0.1 min, 4.3±0.1 min, and 3.7±0.1 min, respectively. The Z-values of B. subtilis, G. stearothermophilus, and B. atrophaeus spores were 43.0±1.4℃, 25.0±1.6℃, and 35.8±1.4℃, respectively. The D₁₂₁-values of B. subtilis, G. stearothermophilus, and B. atrophaeus spores were all higher than that of Clostridium botulinum spores used to confirm retort food sterilization. Considering these results, B. subtilis, G. stearothermophilus, and B. atrophaeus spores can be used instead of the pathogenic spore-forming bacteria C. botulinum when sterilizing retort food. In addition, sterilization can be confirmed in 2 to 3 days, a shorter time than the 13 days required for existing bacterial growth experiments based on the Korean food code.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.560-565
• /
• 2013

Biological decontamination means the removal of microorganisms from the inanimate object such as building or equipment. In this study, hydrogen peroxide vapor efficacy test using VHP 1000ED system(Steris LifeSciences) were conducted for G. stearothermophilus spore with agent materials(aluminum, stainless steel, poly-carbonate, viton, silicone, kapton and glass). Total recovered spores exposed to hydrogen peroxide vapor(1.0 g/min) during 7, 15, 30, 60 min were calculated. As a result, all agent materials were totally decontaminated within 60 min at 1.0 g/min concentration with 35% hydrogen peroxide vapor. Finally, we could confirmed that hydrogen peroxide vapor possess sporicidal capacity of G. stearothermophilus and found the optimum decontamination conditions with VHP1000ED system.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.633-636
• /
• 2006

The purpose of this study was to measure the heat resistance and core mineral content of Geobacillus stearothermophilus ATCC 7953 spores when the sporulating cells were exposed to heat shock at different times during sporulation. Heat shock during sporulation was found to increase the heat resistance of the spores produced subsequently. The spores heat shocked 2 h after the end of the exponential phase showed the highest heat resistance and a 3D-fold increase in the $d_{10}$ compared with the non-heat-shocked spores. The enhanced heat resistance was likely due to the increased mineral content observed in the spores heat shocked at $t_7\;or\;t_8$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.695-703
• /
• 2008

A locally isolated thermophile, Geobacillus sp. SAB-40, producing thermostable extracellular amylase constitutively and an induced intracellular ${\beta}$-galactosidase was characterized and identified based on 16S rRNA sequencing. A phylogenetic analysis then revealed its closeness to Geobacillus stearothermophilus. To evaluate the effect of the culture conditions on the coproduction of both enzymes by G stearothermophilus SAB-40, a Plackett-Burman fractional factorial design was applied to determine the impact of twenty variables. Among the tested variables, $CaCI_2$, the incubation time, $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, and tryptone were found to be the most significant for encouraging amylase production. Lactose was found to promote ${\beta}$-galactosidase production, whereas starch had a significantly negative effect on lactase production. Based on a statistical analysis, a preoptimized medium attained the maximum production of amylase and ${\beta}$-galactosidase at 23.29 U/ml/ min and 12,958 U/mg biomass, respectively, which was 3-and 2-fold higher than the yield of amylase and lactase obtained with the basal medium, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.669-674
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the suitability of hydrogen peroxide($H_2O_2$) vapor system for platform interior decontamination. Geobacillus stearothermophilus biological indicator(BI) strips and a field tent were used as a biological simulant and as a simulated platform, respectively. Decontamination was performed based on injection rates and tent sizes with exposure time 60 minutes. We standardized the conditions for the field tent decontamination : 8.0 g/min for $30m^3$($H_2O_2$ vapor concentration of 150~500 ppm, relative humidity of 50 %) and 12.0 g/min for $60m^3$($H_2O_2$ vapor concentration of 250~400 ppm, relative humidity of 55 %). Thus we suggest the system is one of the possible candidates for decontamination of platform interiors.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.45 no.1
• /
• pp.32-40
• /
• 2009

To understand contribution of thermophilic microorganisms in decomposition of litter deposits on shore of lakes, we surveyed a lakeshore litter deposit for bacteria growing at $60^{\circ}C$. Ten thermophilic isolates were selected for in-depth characterization, based on their high capacity to degrade high molecular weight organic compounds. Based on phylogenetic analysis on their 16S rRNA gene sequences, all isolates were identified as Geobacillus. The optimal growth temperature and pH of the strains ranged $55{\sim}60^{\circ}C$ and 6.0${\sim}$8.0, respectively. Salinity was inhibitory to the growth of the isolates, showing marked decrease of growth rates at 3% salinity. Based on activities of hydrolytic enzymes and profiles of carbohydrate utilization (determined by API 50 CHB kit), three G. stearothermophilus strains showed patterns clearly distinctive from other isolates. Two G. kaustophilus strains also demonstrated distinctiveness in their metabolic pattern and ecological parameters. However, ecological and metabolic profiles of the other five isolates were more variable and showed some degree of digression from their phylogenetic classification. Therefore, it could be concluded that endospore-forming thermophilic bacteria in lakeshore litter deposits contribute to degradation of organic materials with diverse ecological niches while having successions similar to microbial flora in compost. We propose that the thermophilic isolates and/or their thermo-tolerant enzymes can be applied to industrial processes as appropriate mixtures.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.17 no.8
• /
• pp.1262-1270
• /
• 2007

Some hot springs located in the west of Turkey were investigated with respect to the presence of thermophilic microorganisms. Based on phenotyping characteristics and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, 16 of the isolates belonged to the genus Geobacillus and grew optimally at about $60^{\circ}C$ on nutrient agar. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that these isolates resembled Geobacillus species by ${\ge}97%$, but SDS-PAGE profiles of these 16 isolates differ from some of the other species of the genus Geobacillus. However, it is also known that analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences may be insufficient to distinguish between some species. It is proposed that recN sequence comparisons could accurately measure genome similarities for the Geobacillus genus. Based on recN sequence analysis, isolates 11, IT3, and 12 are strains of G stearothermophilus; isolate 14.3 is a strain of G thermodenitrificans; isolates 9.1, IT4.1, and 4.5 are uncertain and it is required to make further analysis. The presence of xylanase and arabinofuranosidase activities, and their optimum temperature and pH were also investigated. These results showed that 7 of the strains have both xylanase and arabinofuranosidase activities, 4 of them has only xylanase, and the remaning 5 strains have neither of these activities. The isolates 9.1, 7.1, and 3.3 have the highest temperature optima ($80^{\circ}C$), and 7.2, 9.1, AO4, 9.2, and AO17 have the highest pH optima (pH 8) of xylanase. Isolates 7.2, AO4, AC15, and 12 have optimum arabinofuranosidase activities at $75^{\circ}C$, and only isolate AC15 has the lowest pH of 5.5.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.283-284
• /
• 2005

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.361-367
• /
• 2010

Bacterial contamination of cooked rice was analyzed to evaluate the microbial safety. Thirty raw rice samples were collected in Korea and cooked in an electric rice cooker. Mesophilic aerobe, food-poisoning Bacillus cereus group, and their toxin genes were determined on cooked rice. The percentage of total mesophilic aerobe based on 1-3 log CFU/g was 27% among the samples. Bacillus spp. in MYP selective medium was similar to the number of mesophilic aerobe, whileas Bacillus spp. was detected in most samples after enrichment. Thirty-seven isolates from 30 cooked rices were identified as B. thuringiensis, B. cereus, B. valismortis, B. pumilus, B. coagulans, B. licheniformis, Geobacillus stearothermophilus, and Brevibacillus laterosporus. Twenty isolates (54%), more than half of the isolates, were B. thuringiensis while nine (27%) were identified as B. cereus. All B. thuringiensis isolates possessed non-hemolytic toxin genes and interestingly, seven B. cereus among nine isolates possessed emetic toxin genes. More B. thuringiensis was present on the cooked rice than B. cereus and most B. cereus possessed emetic toxin genes rather than diarrheal toxin genes. Therefore, food-borne outbreak due to B.cereus on the cooked rice kept at room temperature might be examples of emetic food-poisoning.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.360-365
• /
• 2008

For the screening of residual antibiotics in foods, bioassays and microbiological inhibitor tests are commonly applied. These methods are tested by the various susceptibility of bacteria against different kinds of antibiotics. However, the sensitivity of bioassay is generally insufficient to detect some residual antibiotics at level of interest. This study was performed to investigate the detection limit of variable antibiotics of the bioassay and to improve the sensitivity to some antibiotics. The sensitivity of bioassay using Bacillus megaterium ATCC 9885, B. subtilis ATCC 6633, B. cereus ATCC 11778 and Geobacillus stearothermophilus ATCC 10149 was low in the detection of macrolides, quinolones, chloramphenicol, and monensin. On the contrary, Micrococcus luteus ATCC 9341 showed high sensitivity to macrolides and Escherichia coli ATCC 11303 was highly sensitive to quinolones and aminoglycosides. Consequently, both strains would be useful to improve sensitivity of bioassay with a wide detection range.