Staphylococcus aureus and food poisoning
Staphylococcus aureus is an aerobic or anaerobic, non motile, non-spore-forming, catalase and coagulase-positive, gram-positive coccus, usually arranged in grapelike irregular clusters.
Staphylococcus aureus is an organism that may produce a very heat stable enterotoxin when permitted to grow to an elevated level (>100000 organism/g).
The foodborne intoxication is caused by ingesting enterotoxin produced in food by some strains of S.aureus, usually because the food has not been handled properly or cold enough.
The consumption of foods containing S. aureus toxins can lead to enterotoxin food poisoning within a few hours. The organism can grow at an Aw of 0.86 and in high salt concentrations.
Hand contact is by far the most common route of transmission, inadequate hygiene can lead to contamination of food.
Proper preprocessing handling of raw materials is essential. If conditions allow the organism grow and produce enterotoxin, subsequent thermal processing will destroy the organism while the heat stable toxin persists.
There is evidence that these enterotoxin may be not completely inactivated at retort temperatures (121C or 250F).
S. aureus typically exists as a commensal bacterium, colonizing the human body without causing infection. It is an opportunistic pathogen having the ability to cause infection when the opportunity presents itself.
The symptoms of poisoning include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea, These first occur between 1 and 8 hours after consumption of contaminated food.
HACCP plans should provide for proper handling of raw materials, steps to destroy eliminate or reduce the hazard, and controls to prevent recontamination.
