Occurrence and characteristics of methicillin-resistant and -susceptible Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci from Japanese retail ready-to-eat raw fish

► We characterized 180 staphylococcal strains isolated from 200 samples of Japanese raw fish. ► 92% of grocery stores surveyed contained fish contaminated with Staphylococcus species. ► Several antibiotic resistance and virulence genes were detected. ► Methicillin-resistant staphylococci were obtained from 10 samples (5%, 10/200). ► Raw fish is a likely vehicle for transmission of multidrug resistant and virulent staphylococci.