Detection of classical enterotoxins of Staphylococcus aureus isolates from chicken nugget and ready to eat foods in Esfahan province by ELISA technique

This study was conducted to detect the classical enterotoxins of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from chicken nugget and ready-to-eat foods in Esfahan province by ELISA technique. During summer 2012, a total number of 420 chicken nuggets was collected randomly from retails of Esfahan province. The samples were subjected to bacteriological examinations. The isolates were analyzed for the production of enterotoxins using ELISA techniques. The ability to synthesize Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) was determined in 20 of 24 (83.3%) isolates, which SEA was the most common (40%) enterotoxin found in the isolates. Afterwards, SEC (15%) and SED (10%) were the most detected enterotoxins. Amongst, three strains were able to synthesize both of the SEA and SED and three isolates were able to synthesize both of SEA and SEC. However, no isolate was able to produced SEE. Results showed that chicken nugget and ready-to-eat foods can potentially be a source of staphylococcal food poisoning. Therefore, it is important to study the prevalence of enterotoxigenic S. aureus in the other food types.