Inactivation of Cronobacter sakazakii in powdered infant formula with probiotics and metagenomic analysis

Food Sci Biotechnol. 2024 Jan 19;33(8):1985-1996. doi: 10.1007/s10068-023-01503-x. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Abstract

In the present study, proper manual for powdered infant formula with probiotics (PIF-P) to prevent the contamination of Cronobacter sakazakii was investigated. First, the population of C. sakazakii and LAB in three different PIF-P samples were quantitatively analyzed after reconstituted with hydrothermal treatments. When C. sakazakii was inoculated into reconstituted infant formula with probiotics (RIF-P), it was immediately reduced below the detection limit by 60-65 °C hydrothermal treatment whereas reduction levels of LAB was 1-2 log CFU/g. When heat resistance of C. sakazakii inoculated to PIF-P with 4 h drying was compared with that inoculated to RIF-P samples, the heat resistance of C. sakazakii increased significantly after the inoculation in PIF-P with drying. Metagenomic analysis revealed that Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium were dominant genus in all three groups and there was no significant difference in the microbial community of untreated PIF sample and hydrothermal treated samples.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10068-023-01503-x.

Keywords: Cronobacter sakazakii,; Hydrothermal treatment; Infant formula with probiotics; Lactic acid bacteria; Metagenome analysis.