Frequency of staphylococcal enterotoxins in ready-to-eat meat products.
Foodborne illnesses (DTAs), food poisoning, Staphylococcus aureus.
Staphylococcus aureus is one of the main causes of food contamination worldwide, caused by staphylococcal enterotoxins preformed in processed meat and/or dairy products. An important characteristic of staphylococcal enterotoxins is their great resistance to heat, freezing, drying, proteolytic enzymes and low pH, this allows them to persist after food processing and treatment, even when the toxin-producing bacteria have been inactivated. In the present study, the frequency of staphylococcal enterotoxins in ready-to-eat meat products was examined. For this, 130 samples of ready-to-eat products were evaluated (ham, ham, salami, smoked loin, pepperoni sausage and pâté), ready-to-eat dishes (smoked chicken, pizza, lasagna, strofonoff and pasta), raw material (mechanically separated meat ( CMS) of chicken) and fresh sausage. The samples were submitted to coagulase positive staphylococcal counting using rapid count plates (PetrifilmTM Staph Express 3M) and the detection of staphylococcal enterotoxins using an enzyme immunoassay method (RIDASCREEN®). In total, 26 samples (20%) had positive coagulase Staphylococcus counts. And none of the samples (0%) showed positivity for Staphylococcal Enterotoxins. This low incidence shows the low risk of infection from the consumption of this type of food, provided that hygiene and production control measures are followed.