| Summary: | In this research, our aim was to assess the occurrence of <i>Staphylococcus aureus </i>in a Hungarian large-scale dairy farm during the <i>S. aureus</i> control program conducted in the course of our studies. Furthermore, the phenotypic and genotypic properties of the isolates (type of haemolysis, antibiotic susceptibility, staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) gene carrying ability and <i>spa</i> type) were determined. <i>S. aureus</i> was detected in all bulk tank milk samples collected during this study. Two different <i>spa</i> types were identified among the 17 strains isolated in the farm. A total of 14 of the 17 studied strains (82%) showed β-haemolysis on blood agar, 2/17 strains (12%) expressed double zone and 1/17 strains (6%) showed weak β-haemolysis. All strains were susceptible to most antibiotics tested (cefoxitin, chloramphenicol, clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamicin, tetracycline and trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole), but all strains were resistant to penicillin G. A total of 11 of the 17 strains (65%) were found to harbour <i>seg</i>, <i>sei</i>, <i>selm</i>, <i>seln</i>, <i>selo</i> genes; 4/17 strains (24%) harboured <i>sei</i>, <i>selm</i>, <i>seln</i>, <i>selo</i> genes and 2/17 strains (11%) harboured <i>sei</i> gene. Since the new SEs/SEls can also cause foodborne outbreaks potentially and all strains were found to be resistant to penicillin G, it is essential to decrease and keep the prevalence of <i>S. aureus</i> low in the dairy farm and the implementation of the <i>S. aureus</i> control program is also highly justified. The results showed that the <i>S. aureus</i> count decreased by the end of our studies, so the control program was proved to be effective.
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