Occurrence and Patterns of Enterotoxin Genes, Types and Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns in in Food and Food Contact Surfaces in Singapore.

contamination of food and food contact surfaces is a public health concern given its virulent and antimicrobial-resistant properties worldwide. In this study, a total of 181 MSSA isolates were analyzed for SE genes, antimicrobial resistance patterns, and types. Overall, 24.9% of isolates were positive for SE gene detection, with being the most prevalent classical SE (18.8%). The most predominant sample sources for SE gene contamination were hand swabs for (6/48), meat dishes for (3/14) and seafood dishes for (2/24). Antimicrobial resistance was also observed at relatively high frequencies for the clinically important antibiotics penicillin G and ampicillin (both 54.7%), followed by tetracycline (14.9%) and azithromycin (8.8%). In addition, characterization of types revealed type t5078 to be the most predominant (40.3%), with significant associations between types t127 and t5521 and the gene. This study offers insights into the enterotoxin gene and antimicrobial resistance profiles of in cooked or ready-to-eat food to inform future surveillance and epidemiological studies.