Banked Human Milk and Quantitative Risk Assessment of Bacillus cereus Infection in Premature Infants: A Simulation Study

Figure 1

Human milk process at Héma-Québec milk bank. Bacterial control is based on 9 samples of 100 microliters per pasteurized milk pool. Post-bacteriological sampling was done plating 100 µl on 9 blood agar plates per pool. Results were categorized into three scenarios. First, if there is no observed bacteriological growth in the 9 samples, then pool milk is accepted for distribution. Second, if on a maximum of 3 plates bacteriological growth was found with no more than 3 CFUs per plate, other than B. cereus, S. aureus, or enterobacteria, then milk pool is accepted for distribution; if one of the above mentioned bacteria was found within the three positive plates, then pool milk was discarded. Third, if bacteriological growth was observed on more than 3 plates or if more than 3 CFUs were observed on a single plate whatever the bacterial species, then milk pool was discarded.