Prevalence, distribution, and antimicrobial susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus in ready-to-eat salads and in the environment of a salad manufacturing plant in Northern Greece

The prevalence, distribution, and antibiotic susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus was investigated in ready-to-eat (RTE) salads, the environment, and the personnel of a salad producing plant in Greece. Staphylococci were isolated from 27% of the samples. Apart from three isolates which were sensitive to all antibiotics, all the others exhibited resistance from two up to five antibiotics. None of the isolates was resistant to oxacillin. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis showed no genetic relation between the human and salad isolates while one RAPD clone of S. aureus predominated among the salad samples. The results suggest that an effective application of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) is needed along the food production chain to prevent the contamination of RTE foods.