Enterotoxigenic Staphylococci as potential hazards in meat meals prepared at restaurant level

Abstract

Enterotoxigenic staphylococci are associated with food poisoning infection especially in ready to eat meals ingestion causing serious health hazards. A total of 150 random samples of prepared meat meals represented by beef kofta, hawawshi, chicken shawarma, chicken pane, fish fillet and fried tilapia (25 of each) were gathered from several restaurants in Egypt's Menoufia governorate and analyzed bacteriologically for detection of enterotoxigenic staphylococci. The obtained results showed that, the mean values of staphylococci count (CFU/g) were 2.3×10 3 ± 0.35×10 3 in beef kofta, 2.5×10 3 ± 0.1×10 3 in hawawshi, 8.1×10 3 ±0.21×10 4 in chicken shawarma, 2.1×10 3 ±0.45×10 3 in chicken pane, 3.8х10 3 ±0.06х10 3 in fish fillet, 7.6х10 3 ±0.13х10 3 in fried tilapia. Also, Stahphylococcus aureus had mean values of 1.3×10 3 ± 0.23×10 3 , 1.5×10 3 ± 0.21×10 3 , 4.5×10 3 ± 0.01×10 3 , 1.5×10 3 ± 0.31×10 3 , 2.2х10 3 ±0.05х10 3 , 3.0х10 3 ±0.03х10 3 (CFU/g) and with incidences of 24%, 20 %, 24 %, 12 %, 16 % and 12% in the examined samples of beef kofta, hawawshi, chicken shawarma, chicken pane, fish fillet and fried tilapia, respectively. Restrict hygienic measures should be applied to prevent food contamination.