Phenotypic and Biochemical Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Cooked Food Sold on the Streets of Williamsville, Abidjan, Ivory Coast

The safety of ready-to-eat street food is now a major public health issue. This study was conducted with the aim of raising awareness among street food consumers about Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) food poisoning and its impact on health. To this end, thirty (30) samples of street food across five categories of cooked dishes (Attiéké + snails, tchèpe, placali + palm sauce, foutou + palm sauce, and foutou+eggplant sauce) were collected in Williamsville (Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire). The analyses began with inoculation, followed by counting of the microbial colonies. These colonies were isolated and then extracted, and the presumed S. aureus isolates were identified using biochemical tests. These revealed 51 staphylococcal isolates, with 82.35% belonging to the S. aureus species, of which 50% were rapid coagulase-positive strains and 50% were slow coagulase-positive strains. The microbiological loads of Placali + palm sauce (327.27 ± 12.85 cfu/g) and Foutou + eggplant sauce (513.63 ± 32.14 cfu/g), which are well above the standard criterion of 100 cfu/g, indicate that these dishes are a potential source of S. aureus-based pathology. Of the thirty samples (30), the majority (twenty-eight, or 93.33%) comply with microbiological quality standards, while very few (two samples, or 6.67%) do not comply. Good hygiene and food manufacturing or production practices must be followed in order to prevent or minimize contamination by Staphylococcus aureus.