Avi Roselyne Donald Merryfield^{1, 2,}, Guédé Kipré Bertin², Benie Comoé Koffi Donatien³, Koné Tadiogo Naty¹, Tiékoura Konan Bertin², Guessennd-Kouadio Aya Nathalie¹, Dadié Adjéhi¹

In Côte d'Ivoire, urbanization has led to an increasing consumption of pastries that causes intoxication concerns due to lack of hygiene in handling food. This study aims at evaluating Staphylococcus aureus prevalence in pastry shops in Abidjan, particularly in Yopougon. This, in the prospect of preventing food poisoning originating from these products. A survey was conducted among 400 pastry customers to identify the most consumed products. Staphylococcus aureus strains were isolated on Baird Parker medium enriched with egg yolk, and identified using classical bacteriology techniques. In addition, search for virulence or enterotoxic genes by PCR was carried out. Outcomes of survey revealed that croissants (29.5%) and chocolate-bread (22%) were the most consumed products. Then, crescents were the most contaminated products (41.50%), followed by chocolate-bread (38.30%). Cream cakes showed lower contamination with a frequency rate of 23.70%. Furthermore, prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus varied according to processing site. To illustrate, for Roadside (BR) it represented 38.8%, and for Larger Crowd areas (GA) 55.1% with a maximum prevalence of 61% in crescents. Sea (9.68%) and Sed (16.08%) genes were respectively detected predominantly in crescents, accounting for 41.07% and 50.53% of the positive mobile genetic elements, while the Seb, Sec, and See genes were not detected. These results highlight the need to strengthen health controls and hygiene practices to limit health risks associated with consumption of pastry products.

Pastry, Staphylococcus aureus, Virulence genes, Yopougon, Ivory Coast