To survey the contamination and virulence gene profiles of B.cereus isolated from retail infant formula in China.Methods Infant formulas were quantitatively detected for B.cereus using MPN method. Virulence genes in relation to emetic and diarrheal toxins production harbored by B.cereus were detected by multiplex PCR. Results Fifty-seven out of 135 infant formula samples were positive for B.cereus with the contamination rate of 42.22% and the mean contamination level of 7.14 MPN/g. The contamination of B.cereus in domestically produced infant formula was more severe than those imported one. B.cereus contamination of infant formula sold online was more serious than that collected from supermarket. A total of 24 toxigenic patterns in B.cereus were found. Most of B.cereus isolates carried nhe gene (92.98%) and entFM gene (71.93%). There were 40 (70.18%) strains that carried both nhe and entFM genes simultaneously. Subtyping results demonstrated that the frequency of nheA, nheB, nheC were 88.72%, 88.72%, 49.12%, and hblA, hblC, hblD were 24.56%, 22.81%, 17.54%, respectively. The frequency of cytK occurrence was 22.81%. There were 8 strains that carried all three subtypes of both nhe and hbl genes, which indicated that these strains may be highly toxic.Conclusion Retail infant formulas were heavily contaminated by B.cereus. Most isolates carried one or more virulence genes. It is recommended to broaden the monitoring for B.cereus in infant formulas. It is necessary to make an assessment of infant dietary exposure to B.cereus in order to establish the national standard of maximal limit for B.cereus in infant formula.