Improving elderlies’ nutrition is an increasingly important stake in European countries considering the ageing of the population. The aim of the FP7-OPTIFEL project is to create new food products based on fruits and vegetables, supplemented with specific nutrients to fight elderlies’ nutritional deficiencies. The microbial safety of these products is of great importance due to the high risk of foodborne disease in the elderly population. The foodborne pathogen Bacillus cereus can resist to pasteurization treatments and psychrotrophic strains can multiply during refrigerated storage. Understanding its behaviour during the life cycle of food products, particularly during cold storage is essential because the new food products developed in OPTIFEL would have a shelf life of 4-5 weeks under refrigeration. The aim of this study was to determine the growth ability of psychrotophic Bacillus cereus in different types of medium with various conditions. Growth of the psychrotrophic B. cereus strain KBAB4 in a carrot-based substrate was measured at cold and optimal temperatures, in presence and absence of oxygen, and compared to that obtained in a laboratory medium (BHI) providing optimal nutrient supply to the bacterium, to infer the ability of carrot to support B. cereus growth in the tested conditions. Then, impacts of food additives relevant to the FP7-OPTIFEL project have been tested. Combination of aerobiosis, pH < 5.7 at 10°C, or anaerobiosis at any pH and temperatures <8°C prevented psychrotrophic Bacillus cereus growth in BHI. However, the psychrotrophic B. cereus strain KBAB4 did not grow in a heat sterilized carrot substrate, even at optimal temperature, presumably because of the strong heat treatment applied on the carrot. These data on B. cereus behaviour will be confronted and will be used as guidance to help new product development.