BACTERIOPHAGE TYPING OF STAPHYLOCOCCI ISOLATED FROM FOODSTUFFS AND FOOD HANDLERS IN TEHRAN

Studies were done to assess contamination of 3247 samples of foods and food handlers with coagulase-positive staphylococci. Food specimens were collected from retail shops and a Tehran milk pasteurizing plant; in addition 510 food handlers of different professional groups were examined. Three swabs for bacteriological examination were randomly collected from nose, hands, and throat. Of samples tested for coagulase-positive staphylococci, 28.02% were positive and almost half of them were obtained from foodstuffs. Of 546 isolates that were phage typed, we found that group III predominated in the nose and cream cake, while group II was more prevalent in raw cream, throat, and hands. Although group IV was not prominent, nose and hands yielded 3 and 1 positives, respectively. Untypable isolates comprised about 47.2% with most from hands and nose, 61.7 and 60.5%, respectively, and the least from raw cream, 33.3%.