Chapters authored
Staphylococcus aureus: Characterisation and Quantitative Growth Description in Milk and Artisanal Raw Milk Cheese Production
Part of the book: Structure and Function of Food Engineering
Staphylococcus aureus Enterotoxin Production in Relation to Environmental Factors
Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) and SE-like toxins (SEls) are the most notable virulence factors associated with Staphylococcus aureus. They are involved in food poisoning, toxic shock syndrome and staphylococcal infectious diseases in human. In dairy practise, the initial numbers of S. aureus play an important role especially at the beginning of the milk fermentation within the first 6 h or in 24-h-old cheese. As we presented in our previous works, one of the most effective tools to inhibit S. aureus growth is by adding a sufficient amount of active dairy starters, which are able to produce lactic acid very rapidly. Thus, by inhibiting the growth of S. aureus the production of SEs may be reached. Based on this study focusing on the effect of temperature, pH, water activity and initial numbers of lactic acid bacteria on the growth and the ability of S. aureus 14733 to produce SED, we consider it as a strong SED producer. The SED production was not limited with the incubation temperatures and the NaCl addition related to traditional cheese manufacture. As this isolate comes originally from such an artisanal cheese production, we can expect that other strong SE producer could be present in milk or environment. Besides strict prerequisites approach in production hygiene, it is necessary to add the starters ensuring the initial dominance of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and supporting the growth of the natural LAB present in raw milk.
Part of the book: The Rise of Virulence and Antibiotic Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus