A bacterium carried on skin and in noses that can produce a heat-stable toxin in food and cause rapid-onset illness.
It produces a toxin as it grows in food left in the temperature danger zone. It is the toxin, not the live bacteria, that makes people sick, and symptoms come on quickly.
No. The toxin is heat stable and survives normal cooking and reheating. This is why preventing the bacteria from growing is the only reliable control.
Most often from food handlers touching ready-to-eat food with bare hands, especially if they have cuts, sores or skin infections, since the bacterium lives on skin and in the nose.
Very quickly, usually within one to six hours of eating the affected food. Symptoms include sudden nausea, vomiting and cramps and typically resolve within about a day.
Enforce good hand hygiene, cover all cuts with waterproof dressings, minimise bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food, keep staff with skin infections away from food, and control temperature and time.