Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureusin meat and meat products

Staphylococcus aureus as the second or third important food-borne pathogen all around the world. Ability of development and production of heat-stable enterotoxin in a wide range of the food made Staphylococcus has one of the most important factors causing the food poisoning. This study was done to investigate the prevalence of Staphylococcus in meat and meat products in Esfahan. From summer to winter 2012، 450 samples including raw beef (n=80)، minced meat (n=80)، lamb (n=80)، goat (n=80)، camel (n=50)، hamburger (n=40)، kebab (n=40) were randomly collected from butcheries and supermarkets in Isfahan، and analyzed for the presence of S. aureus. Totally، 234 (55/6 %) S. aureus were detected in meat and meat products. The mean count of S. aureus in positive samples was 8/3×102. The results indicated that although the percentage of contaminated samples was high، the number of bacteria presented in the samples is low with no potential risk for public health. To effectively manage the food production for decreasing diseases more epidemiologic investigations about S. aureustoxication are needed.