Abstract
Strawberries are among the leading ready-to-eat agricultural products that have superior taste and nutrition. Thus, consumer concerns about the safety of eating strawberries are growing. To evaluate the contamination levels of strawberries according to their cultivation methods (nutriculture, pesticide-free culture and organic farming) and parts [fruit (flesh), stalk (pedunle) and leaf (calyx)], 1,020 parts of strawberry samples were collected at 12 farms in Nonsan-si and quantitatively or qualitatively examined for the indicators of food safety and food poisoning bacteria. The total aerobic bacteria count in the whole samples was 2.3~6.8 CFU/g, and coliform bacteria were detected in 14.2% of the whole samples with a contamination level range of 2.1~4.5 log CFU/g. E. coli were detected in 0.9% of the whole samples with a contamination level range of 2.1~2.8 log CFU/g. The analysis of the bacterial levels according to the cultivation methods showed that the total aerobic bacteria and coliform counts were higher in the strawberries that were grown via organic farming than in those that were grown via nutriculture and pesticide-free culture. However, the E. coli counts of the strawberries that were grown via organic farming and via pesticide-free culture were similar and differed from that of the strawberries that were grown via nutriculture. The analysis of the contamination levels according to the parts of the strawberries showed that the total aerobic bacteria, coliform and E. coli counts of the fruits, stalks and leaves of the strawberries did not significantly differ. Staphylococcus aureus was detected in two organically grown strawberries, but Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7 were not detected in the whole samples. These results show that the bacterial contamination levels of the strawberries differed based on their cultivation methods. Thus, a suitable method of reducing the bacterial contamination levels of strawberries according to their farming methods is needed.
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