Isolation, Identification and Heat Resistance of Bacillus from Raw Milk

A small amount of bacterial spores with strong tolerance still exist in raw milk after sterilization and can multiply under certain conditions, causing a serious impact on product quality and consumer health. In this study, raw milk samples containing Bacillus were collected to isolate aerobic Bacillus and thermophilic aerobic Bacillus. The isolates obtained were identified based on their morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular biological characteristics, and the heat resistance of the isolated thermophilic aerobic Bacillus was studied. Results showed that 10 strains of Bacillus were isolated from the milk samples, of which three were thermophilic aerobic Bacillus and seven were aerobic Bacillus. Among them, Bacillus coagulans and Bacillus clausii could tolerate heat treatment at 115 ℃ for 15 min. All Bacillus in raw milk could be killed by heat treatment at 121 ℃ for 20 min which decreased the number of spores by four orders of magnitude. The dominant Bacillus species in raw milk were Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus circulans, Bacillus gelatini, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus coagulans, and Bacillus clausii. Bacillus coagulans and Bacillus clausii had stronger heat resistance and could tolerate heat treatment at 115 ℃ for 15 min.