Staphylococcus aureus Profile of Some Selected Processed Foods

Abstract

Processed foods are supposed to be free of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms but this is not always true. This study is, therefore, designed to determine the presence of Staphylococcus aureus in some locally processed foods. One hundred and sixty samples of sixteen different types of processed foods and beverages were purchased from different locations in Calabar, Cross River State and microbiologically analyzed for possible contamination with Staphylococcus aureus using Compact Dry X-SA plate. The presence of S. aureus was in 38 (23.8%) of the samples and the total Staphylococcal counts ranged between 1.2 x 102 cfu/g(ml) and 4.8 x 104  cfu/g(ml), with the highest count recorded in burger and the least load in Rosenberg. The food samples with the positive S. aureus were Rosenberg with 30% incidence rate, meat pie with 90%, burger 100%, donut 100% and moi moi 60% incidence rates.  The presence of Staphylococcus aureus in some of these foods analyzed is an indication of poor hygienic practices and important health threat to consumers. A total of 45 distinct colonies were isolated and screened for coagulase positive characteristics. Out of the 45 isolates, 15(33%) were coagulase positive.  The implication of this is that the consumption of these food products can lead to staphylococcal food borne disease. It is, therefore, very important for proper hygienic processing and handling practices to be employed for these foods and similar ones.