Protease and lipase activity of Staphylococcus aureus obtained from meat, chicken and meatball samples

A total of 270 samples of raw meat (minced calf meat, chicken carcasses) and meatballs (ready- toeat meat) were analyzed for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus. From these samples, 148 S. aureus isolates were obtained, which were investigated for proteolytic and lipolytic activity under psychrotrophic conditions (+4 oC and +20 oC) associated with meat spoilage. Both proteolytic and lipolytic bacteria can change the quality of raw meat and decrease the shelf-life, resulting in spoilage. S. aureus isolates were not showed proteolytic and lipolytic activities at +4 oC. It was found that 96.2 % , 89.1 % and 75.0 % of the S. aureus isolates obtained from meat, meatball and chicken samples showed proteolytic activity at +20 oC. Few of the isolates obtained from chicken samples (22.8 %) showed lipolytic activity under psychrotrophic conditions (+20 oC).