Abstract
At the end of 2009, six food poisoning outbreaks caused by staphylococci were reported in France. Soft cheese made from unpasteurized milk was found to be the common source of the outbreaks. Staphylococcal enterotoxin type E was identified and quantified in the cheese using both official and confirmatory methods of the European Union Reference Laboratory (EU-RL). To our knowledge, this is the first report of food poisoning outbreaks caused by staphylococcal enterotoxin type E in France.
Highlights
Staphylococcal food poisoning is one of the most common food-borne diseases worldwide [1] resulting from the ingestion of staphylococcal enterotoxins preformed in food by enterotoxigenic strains of coagulase-positive staphylococci, mainly S. aureus
The aetiological agent could be determined because of (i) the symptoms of the cases, (ii) the high number of coagulase-positive staphylococci recovered from remains of cheese incriminated in the outbreak and (iii) the amounts of staphylococcal enterotoxins recovered from cheese samples
The coagulase-positive staphylococci were killed by the heat treatment whereas the staphylococcal enterotoxins, Figure 2 Detection of the see gene on 10 S. aureus isolates from the cheese responsible for food poisoning outbreaks due to staphylococcal enterotoxin type E, France, OctoberNovember 2009
Summary
Staphylococcal food poisoning is one of the most common food-borne diseases worldwide [1] resulting from the ingestion of staphylococcal enterotoxins preformed in food by enterotoxigenic strains of coagulase-positive staphylococci, mainly S. aureus. 21 staphylococcal enterotoxins have been described: staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) A (SEA) to SElV all possess superantigenic activity whereas only some (SEA to SEI, SER, SES and SET) have been proven to be emetic [3]. These toxins are produced by enterotoxigenic strains of coagulasepositive staphylococci (mainly S. aureus) in food with high protein content
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