2 nd Conference of Food Safety, Suez Canal University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Volume I August 2015 Page 1-7. =============================================================== ======================================================================= 1 Dept. of Food Hygiene, http://vet.scuegypt.edu.eg/ Incidence of Staphylococcus aureus in Meat Meals from some Governmental Hospital in Ismailia City Hosny A. Abdelrahman; Ali M. Ahmed; Soad A. Soliman and Nada I. Hussein Dept., of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University Abstract Outbreak of foodborne illness as a result of Staphylococcus aureus has been reported in many hospitals and care homes allover the world due to hospital meals. Therefore, eighty ready for serving meat meals samples; 20 each of, meat-ball, liver meals, beef meat, and chicken meat were randomly collected from the governmental hospital to evaluate the prevalence of staphylococci and Staphylococcus aureus. In the current study, 100% of the meals samples submitted to patients were tested positive for Staphylococcus species and Staphylococcus aureus respectively. The mean count values in the examined samples of meat-ball, liver meals, beef meat and chicken meat samples for Staphylococcal species were 2x10 6 , 2.3x10 5 , 2.7x10 5 and 5.2x10 5 cfu/g respectively. While the mean values for Staphylococcal aureus were 6x10 5 , 4.1x10 4 , 4.1x10 3 and 2.1x10 4 cfu/g respectively. In conclusion, the large population of Staphylococci and Staphylococcus aureus in the examined hospital meals in Ismailia city emphasizes the bad hygiene practice at the levels of the food service establishment during preparation of the meals for the patients. Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus, Hospital, Meals, Meat, Liver, Meals. Introduction Staphylococcal species are Gram-positive, non-motile, small, spherical cocci, which appear on microscopic examination as short chains, in pairs or bunched in grape-like clusters. Staphylococci are ubiquitous and impossible to eradicate from the environment. Many of the 32 species and subspecies in the genus staphylococcus are potentially found in foods due to environmental, human, and animal contamination and can be found in the air, dust, on the skin, and in the nose, mouth, and throat of many of healthy people or on food equipment, environmental surfaces, humans, and animals. Usually it causes no illness in these healthy people unless it is transmitted to food products. Staphylococcus aureus is a versatile human pathogen capable of causing staphylococcal food Poisoning, toxic shock syndrome, pneumonia, postoperative wound infection, and nosocomial bacteremia. Patients who are highly susceptible to infection, including those with a low neutrophil count, should be supplied with a low microbial diet including transplant recipients, people with cancer, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, diabetes, older, and pregnant women (Lund, 2014). Several Staphylococcal species, including both coagulase-negative and coagulase-positive strains, have the ability to produce highly heat-stable enterotoxins that cause gastroenteritis in humans. S. aureus is the etiologic agent predominantly associated with staphylococcal food poisoning. S. aureus is the cause of sporadic food poisoning episodes around the world. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that, in the United States, staphylococcal food poisoning causes approximately 241,188 illnesses, 1,064 hospitalizations, and 6 deaths each year. The true incidence is unknown for a number of reasons, including poor responses from victims during interviews with health officials; misdiagnosis of the illness, which may be symptomatically similar to other types of food poisoning, inadequate collection of samples for laboratory analyses; improper laboratory examination; and, most important, many victims do not seek medical attention because of the short duration of the illness. Although it is under-reported, staphylococcal food