The present investigation pertains to the starch adulteration of Rasmalai (a popular milk product consumed voraciously in J and K), along with the study of prevalence and toxigenicity studies of Bacillus cereus emetic strain isolates of Rasmalai in Kashmir valley. The investigation was conducted during October 2009-June 2010. A total of 25 samples of Rasmalai were tested. Starch/rice flour was detected in 3 samples which only revealed Bacillus cereus emetic strains on isolation, making a prevalence of 12 percent contamination of Bacillus cereus emetic strain in Rasmalai available in and around the Srinagar city. Different areas of the Srinagar city differed with respect to starch adulteration as well as contamination of Bacillus cereus emetic strains. Central, north and east zones had the highest percentage of positive samples of starch as well as Bacillus cereus emetic strain (20% each). The field isolates and the standard strain of Bacillus cereus had similar cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics.
Rasmalai, Bacillus cereus, Prevalence, Standard strain (NCTC 11143)
© The Author(s) 2011. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.