Barbecue cooks must know about Staphylococcus ("Staph")

By JOE O'CONNELL, cbbqa past President
Staphylococcus ("Staph")

The most common food-poisoning organism is a bacteria with the scientific name Staphylococcus aureus, or "Staph" (sounds like "staff") for short.  This is a small, round organism that thrives everywhere in our environment and is a leading cause of food poisoning.

Humans carry Staph on their bodies all of the time.  Staph lives in ear canals, noses and all over the skin.  Staph is in concentrated forms within boils, pimples and other skin infections.  Staph thrives at a temperature of 100° F.

When food is handled, Staph may be transmitted from the cook's hands to the food, where it starts to grow.  At the ideal temperature of 100° F, certain types of Staph multiply rapidly and produce a toxin.  Food contaminated with the Staph toxin makes people sick, with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea usually appearing from two to six hours after eating the Staph-infected food.  The symptoms usually last one or two days and is rarely a serious threat to otherwise healthy adults.  Staph-caused food poisoning is often associated with starchy foods, cooked and cured meats, cheese and meat salads from improper handling techniques.

Note that the Staph toxin and not the Staph bacteria itself causes the illness.  Staph produces the toxin as a byproduct of its growth.  Killing the bacteria does not rid the food of the poisonous toxin.  While cooking kills most bacteria, the Staph toxin is not destroyed by ordinary cooking.  So cooks must be very careful in handling food to prevent Staph from growing enough to produce toxin.  This means that food must not remain at room temperature more than two hours.

Related information

• See the related Bibliography of Barbecue Health and Safety