Characterization of Bacillus Species from Market Foods in Beijing, China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
No reference was made to the following article:
Yu Shubo, Yu Pengfei, Wang Juan, Li Chun, Guo Hui, Liu Chengcheng, Kong Li, Yu Leyi, Wu Shi, Lei Tao, Chen Moutong, Zeng Haiyan, Pang Rui, Zhang Youxiong, Wei Xianhu, Zhang Jumei, Wu Qingping, Ding Yu. A Study on Prevalence and Characterization of Bacillus cereus in Ready-to-Eat Foods in China. Frontiers in Microbiology, 2020, 3043.
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2019.03043 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2019.03043
Moreover, the authors must highlight the main differences between this study and the submitted manuscript to avoid any similarity and warrant scientific originality.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors of manuscript entitled „Characterization of Bacillus species from market foods in Beijing, China”, please find my comments and suggestions related to your study:
L26 Please explain clearly how exactly your results would help with monitoring of food safety?
L31-31 It is estimated that about 600 million people are suffering from foodborne illnesses, ranging from diarrhea to cancers - it sounds like cancers could be a foodborne disease. Please change the meaning of this sentence.
The methodology is poor described. Please provide more details, refer to the standards or publications from which the methodology was developed.
Please include in the supplementary material all details of the food from which the strains have been isolated. It is not even know what antibiotics were used in the study.
Figure 3 is mentioned in the text before figure 2. (L133, L132).
I recommend to place photos documenting the testing of isolates for antibiotic resistance.
Methods and discussion of the results are quite poor described in comparison to the numbers of presented data.
L231, in my opinion it is definitely inappropriate to write: „In addition, no B. cereus was recovered from probiotics, indicating that the tested probiotics are basically safe for consumers.” The fact that this samples were free from bacillus does not mean that they are “safe for customers”.
The discussion is rather a kind of summary, in my opinion it is not a discussion.
Please enrich this section with a comparison of the obtained results with the results of other authors.
The aim of your study was: „… to investigate the potential pathogenicity, molecular characteristics and antibiotic resistance profiles of Bacillus spp. isolated from market foods in Beijing, China, providing information about the prevalence of Bacillus spp. to further contribute to food safety as well as promote the discovery of new probiotic Bacillus strains. - Please clearly indicate how you promote the discovery of new probiotic Bacillus strains regarding to this study?
Please add the section "Conclusions".
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript was improved.
Please format all scientific names in italic.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thanks for your comment. We have checked our manuscript thoroughly and formatted all scientific names in italic.
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors,
thank you for your corrections. There are still some issues, which need to be deeply describe, for example a Conclusion section.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thanks for your insightful suggestion. We have adapted the Conclusion section as well as other parts in the revised manuscript. Hope it'll meet the standards.
