Bacillus cereus is a hardy, spore-forming bacterium commonly found in the environment – from soil to raw milk. Although often overlooked, it can cause significant spoilage in milk and dairy products, leading to quality losses, consumer complaints, and, in some cases, mild foodborne illness.
Milk may look pure and simple, but even the cleanest-looking product can hide this resilient survivor. B. cereus forms spores that can withstand heat, cleaning, and refrigeration, allowing it to persist through pasteurisation and continue to challenge the dairy industry.
In this webinar we will unpack how B. cereus survives from farm to fridge, why it remains a concern in pasteurised and extended shelf-life milk, and how good hygiene and temperature control can keep it under control.
Speaker
Chané Pretorius is a technical manager at the Dairy Standard Agency (DSA), where she oversees the safety and quality monitoring of milk and other dairy products across South Africa. Since joining the DSA in 2018, Pretorius has worked closely with producers, processors, and health authorities to promote compliance with product safety. She holds an MSc in Food Science and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Pretoria.
