Exposure and risk assessment of Staphylococcus aureus in food chain in Slovakia

Foods can been contaminated by S. aureus usually as a result of unhygienic behaviour of staff or improper conducted technological procedures. Compared to saprophytic bacteria, S. aureus does not possess significant competitive properties; however its epidemiological potential consists in multiplication to density higher than 106 cfu/g and formation of heat-resistant enterotoxins by which it causes food poisoning. Based on the data in 2001, the risk was characterized as follows: S. aureus is almost ubiquitous in ewes’ milk. It is likely that it can increase its numbers by more than 3 log cfu/g and exceed the densities from 105-106 cfu/g for a short period, particularly at farm conditions. It is unlikely that it can succeed in competition with active lactic acid bacteria when they are present in higher numbers in ewes’ milk. While exposure of S. aureus through consumption of lump ewes’ cheese made ​​from raw milk is high, its consequences are mild and severity may be assessed as negligible. The overall risk is considered as low. A kind of confirmation provides the official incidence of staphylococcal poisoning which is 0.2 per 100,000 populations (lower than the EU average of 0.6/100,000)