Contamination Status of Food Handlers, Utensils and Foodstuffs with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Strains in a Hospital Kitchen

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), particularly methicillin- resistant strain (MRSA), is one of the most important pathogens in nosocomial infections that is capable of producing food poisoning and food-borne outbreaks. This study aimed to focus on the contamination status of food handlers, utensils and foodstuffs with this agent in a hospital kitchen as sources of distribution of these strains into hospitals. A total of 220 samples were collected from freshly prepared foods, kitchen utensils and food handlers. The samples were cultured in Blood agar and Mannitol salt agar media and the isolates were evaluated both morphologically and biochemically using specialized tests and consequently were identified via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using femA and nuc primers. For antibiogram, the standard disk diffusion test was used in accordance with CLSI, 2012 guidelines. To detect MRSA strains, resistance of the S. aureus isolates to cefoxitin (30 µg) in Mueller-Hinton agar was evaluated. Thirty- nine S. aureus isolates from food handlers (50%), 26 from kitchen utensils (48.1%), and 22 from food samples (25%) were detected. MRSA strains were found in 22.7% of the S. aureus isolates of foodstuffs, 23.1% in utensils and 5.1% in food handler samples. Homology of the resistance patterns among these isolates was also observed. This study showed the presence of MRSA strains and homology of resistance patterns among the isolates of the foodstuffs, kitchen utensils and food handlers all of which call for a careful monitoring to prevent their distribution among hospitalized patients.