الفهرس 
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Abstract
Bacillus cereus is considered one of prioritized foodborne pathogens forassessing the load of foodborne illnesses. This study was proposed to determine the incidence and level of contamination with B. cereus group bacteria in meat and chicken’s products. Besides, studying the enterotoxin s` profiles of the isolates was also carried out to evaluate their pathogenic nature and their epidemiological and genetic relatedness.
Two hundred various meat and chicken product samples collected from different supermarketsin El Sharkia Governerate were subjected for determining the existence of B. cereus group species by conventional microbiological techniques and spotting light on the virulence features as well as the level of sanitary risks using multiplex cPCR and ERIC-PCR, respectively.
The results showed that B. cereus-like bacteria were isolated from many different foodstuff (meat, chicken and their products) samples with a percentage of 21.5%. The count of the recovered B. cereus group isolates with different range of CFU/ g of samples includes 31 (15.3%) isolates showed CFU value >103 - 104 and only 4 (2%) isolates were>104. The current high counts of > 104 CFU/g were depicted in three (3/13; 2.3%) meat products samples (including minced meat, sausage as well as burger) and one (1/70; 1.4%) chicken meat sample.
In this study, B. cereus isolates were detected with the highest percentage in chicken samples (25.7%) [mainly in chicken meat (30%) followed by chicken sausage and /or luncheon (each 25%)]. However, B.