Effect of Commercial Antimicrobials in Combination with Heat Treatment on Inactivation of Bacillus cereus Spore

Thirteen commercial antimicrobial products were examined to assess the sporicidal activity against Bacillus cereus spores at room temperature, 60 and $85^{\circ}C$. Neither the antimicrobials showed detectable antimicrobial activity against the B. cereus spores nor induced spore germination after the treatment at 0.5 or 1.0%(w/v, v/v) commercial antimicrobial agents at room temperature for 0.5 to 4 hr. However, when the antimicrobials such as chitosan, lactic acid, fermented pollen, grapefruit extract were applied with heat at $85^{\circ}C$ for 30 min, more than 1 log CFU/mL spores were additionally inactivated compared to only heat treatment without antimicrobials. Imposition of $60^{\circ}C$ to B. cereus spores with the higher concentration of 5.0%(v/v) lactic acid or 2.5%(w/v) thiamine dilaurylsulfate for the longer time incubation of 24 hr resulted in 3 log CFU/mL spore inactivation. This work showed that low concentrations of commercial antimicrobials by themselves did not inactivate B. cereus spores. However, when physical processes such as heat were combined together, antimicrobials showed a synergistic effect against B. cereus spores.