Effects of meat-curing salts and temperature on production of staphylococcal enterotoxin B.

We investigated the effect of time, temperature, and the presence of sodium chloride, nitrates, and nitrites in the medium on the growth and production of enterotoxin B by Staphylococcus aureus. Assays by the double gel-diffusion method showed that maximal enterotoxin B production occurs at the beginning of the stationary phase of growth. Lowering the temperature of incubation decreased the amount of toxin produced without affecting the total amount of growth. Increases in concentration of curing salts reduced toxin production more rapidly than cell growth. The relationship of these observations to food-poisoning outbreaks is briefly discussed.