Objective To understand the prevalence, drug resistance, and virulence gene distribution of foodborne Staphylococcus aureus in northwestern Hubei Province. Methods A total of 303 food samples were collected from Xiangyang City, Shiyan City, and Suizhou City of Hubei Province for Staphylococcus aureus screening. Toxic genes and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA)were detected with PCR method. The drug resistance of Staphylococcus aureus was determined with K-B paper diffusion method. Results Staphylococcus aureus strain was determined from 41 samples with the positive rate of 13.53%. Among them, the highest detection rate was from raw meat products (23.91%, 22/92). Among the enterotoxigenic strains, the strain carrying sea was the most common, accounting for 87.80% (36/41). The strains carrying eta and tst accounted for 97.56% (40/41) and 7.32% (3/41), respectively. Strains carrying three or more enterotoxin genes accounted for 17.07% (7/41). 2.44% (1/41) of strains carry eta and tst simultaneously. The drug susceptibility result showed that the penicillin, tetracycline, erythromycin, and doxycycline accounted for 78.05%(32/41), 43.90%(18/41), 31.71%(13/41)and 21.95%(9/41)respectively. The mecA gene test showed that 19.51% (8/41) of the strains were MRSA strains. Conclusion Foodborne Staphylococcus aureus in northwestern Hubei Province had a higher detection rate, toxic gene carring rate, and multiple drug resistance. Related departments need to strengthen food safety monitoring to control the spread of the strain.