Identification and classification of Cronobacter spp. isolated from powdered food in Korea

Cronobacter is a major food-borne pathogen in powdered infant formula and can lead to serious developmental aftereffect and death to infants. The contamination of Cronobacter may be a high risk for the powdered foods. To isolate and identify Korean Cronobacter from the powdered foods such as powdered infant formula and Saengsik, conventional culture method, rapid identification system, PCR, 16S rDNA sequencing were performed. As the results of isolation, seven Cronobacter were isolated from seven out of 102 powdered infant formulas and 41 Cronobacter were isolated from 41 out of 86 Saengsiks. Forty eight Cronobacter isolates were identified into C.sakazakii and C.dublenisis by 16s rDNA sequence analysis. Almost the isolates were C.sakazakii and 13% of the isolates were C. dublinesis. One fourth of the C.sakazakii showed different biochemical characteristics of negative nitrate reduction and non-motility activities with the other strains reported previously.