Comparison of Selective Plating Media for Enumeration of Bacillus cereus in Foods

Abstract
Enumeration of Bacillus cereus on raw sprouts of mung beans and wheat was compared in three agars: mannitol-egg yolk-polymyxin (MYP), polymyxin pyruvate-egg yolk-mannitol-bromthymol blue, and trypticase-soy-polymyxin blood. Ten different strains of B. cereus were used to seed the sprouts. Rates of recovery for the three media were not significantly different. However, with MYP agar, B. cereus could be differentiated more easily from other microorganisms and required fewer confirmatory tests.