ABSTRACT
Staphylococci are Gram-positive and catalase-positive ubiquitous bacteria found on the skin and mucous membranes of warm-blooded animals and humans. Staphylococci are grouped into coagulase-positive (CPS) and coagulase-negative (CNS) staphylococci, according to their ability to coagulate rabbit plasma. Staphylococcal foodborne poisoning is an intoxication produced by consumption of foods containing enough amounts of preformed enterotoxins. The diagnosis of staphylococcal foodborne poisoning is generally confirmed by at least one of the following methods: recovery of S. aureus cells/g from food remnants, detection of SEs in food remnants, or isolation of S. aureus of the same phage type from both patients and food remnants. There are three types of methods to detect bacterial toxins in foods—immunological tools, mass spectrometry-based methods, and bioassays. Bioassays are based on the ability of a suspected food extract to induce symptoms such as vomiting or gastrointestinal signs in laboratory animal models and/or superantigenic action in cell culture models.
