Pérez-Boto, D.; D’Arrigo, M.; García-Lafuente, A.; Bravo, D.; Pérez-Baltar, A.; Gaya, P.; Medina, M.; Arqués, J.L. Staphylococcus aureus in the Processing Environment of Cured Meat Products. Foods2023, 12, 2161.
Pérez-Boto, D.; D’Arrigo, M.; García-Lafuente, A.; Bravo, D.; Pérez-Baltar, A.; Gaya, P.; Medina, M.; Arqués, J.L. Staphylococcus aureus in the Processing Environment of Cured Meat Products. Foods 2023, 12, 2161.
Pérez-Boto, D.; D’Arrigo, M.; García-Lafuente, A.; Bravo, D.; Pérez-Baltar, A.; Gaya, P.; Medina, M.; Arqués, J.L. Staphylococcus aureus in the Processing Environment of Cured Meat Products. Foods2023, 12, 2161.
Pérez-Boto, D.; D’Arrigo, M.; García-Lafuente, A.; Bravo, D.; Pérez-Baltar, A.; Gaya, P.; Medina, M.; Arqués, J.L. Staphylococcus aureus in the Processing Environment of Cured Meat Products. Foods 2023, 12, 2161.
Abstract
The presence of Staphylococcus aureus in six dry-cured meat-processing facilities was investigated. S. aureus was detected in 3.8% of surfaces from five facilities. Prevalence was clearly higher during processing (4.8%) than after cleaning and disinfection (1.4%). Thirty eight isolates were typified by PFGE and MLST. Eleven sequence types (STs) were defined by MLST. ST30 (32%) and ST12 (24%), were the most abundant. Enterotoxin genes were detected in 53% of isolates. The enterotoxin A gene (sea) was present in all ST30 isolates, seb in one ST1 isolate and sec in two ST45 isolates. Sixteen isolates harbored the enterotoxin gene cluster (egc) with four variations in the sequence. The toxic shock syndrome toxin gene (tst) was detected in 82% of isolates. Regarding the antimicrobial resistance, twelve strains were susceptible to all the antibiotics tested (31.6%). However, 15.8% were resistant to three or more antimicrobials, and therefore multidrug-resistant. Our results showed that, in general, efficient cleaning and disinfection procedures were applied. Nonetheless, the presence of S. aureus with virulence determinants and resistance to antimicrobials, and particularly multidrug resistant MRSA ST398 strains might represent a potential health hazard for consumers, even though the pathogen was not isolated from final products.
Biology and Life Sciences, Food Science and Technology
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