sequences from 20 foodborne isolated Bacillus strains, and sequences belonging to different Bacillus spp. retrieved from the GenBank were analysed. In general terms, gyrB, rpoB and tuf gene regions for the strains considered in this study exhibited interspecific similarities of 57.8%, 67.23% and 77.66% respectively. Novel tufGPF and tufGPR universal primers targeted to the tuf gene were designed and proved to be useful for the amplification of all Bacillus spp considered. In conclusion, the tuf gene can be considered to be a good target for the differential characterisation of foodborne Bacillus species, especially for differentiating B. subtilis and B. cereus from other closely related species.