ABSTRACT
A brief description of a foodborne outbreak due to S. aureus enterotoxin associated with the consumption of mocha cake in the city of Guadalajara is presented. The cake was prepared in a bakery and affected nearly 100 persons. S. aureus was isolated from the nose and skin of one of the pastry cooks. A S. aureus strain isolated from the cake involved in the outbreak was not only unable to grow in the mocha cream, but it actually decreased in numbers by 2 log after 72 h of storage at 30 degrees C. The pH of mocha cream ranged from 6.2 to 6.6, and water activity from 0.833 to 0.859, with a media of 0.841. In preparing mocha cake at the shop, one half of the dough used to be sprayed with a sucrose solution in water (20% w/v); mocha cream was spread on the other half of the dough before overlapping the two halves. When mocha cake was prepared in this manner, and stored at 30 degrees C, S. aureus increased in number by more than 4 log after 48 h. S. aureus did not grow in the cake stored at 4-7 degrees C. Contributory factors in this outbreak were an increase of water activity in the interphase of the mocha and the cake dough, storage of the cake in an unrefrigerated area, and an unusually high ambient temperature (28-32 degrees C) at that time.
