어린잎채소의 생산 및 가공 공정 중 식중독 미생물 분석

Abstract

This study was performed to assess the microbiological quality of Brassica campestris var. narinosa microgreen from harvesting and processing steps. The samples were analyzed for total viable cell counts (TVC), coliforms, Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Bacillus cereus, and Staphylococcus aureus. The total viable counts of microgreen (whole leaves) and environment samples from harvesting steps were higher than 6.8 log CFU/g and the contamination level of coliforms in the samples were 3.2 log CFU/g and 3.5 log CFU/g of microgreen and soil, respectively. In case of microgreen samples collected from processing steps, the contamination level of TVC and coliforms were higher in raw materials than samples obtained from later stages of processing, i.e. washing, drain, and final products. The contamination levels of B. cereus in raw materials and environments decreased approximately 1.4 log CFU/g in final products. S. aureus was detected in soil samples but Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and pathogenic E. coli was not detected. In order to identify the sources of contamination for microgreen, the genetic similarity of B. cereus isolates obtained from harvesting and processing steps were compared using the repetitive-sequence-based polymerase chain reaction method. B. cereus isolates obtained from harvesting environments and microgreen were clustered with a similarity greater than 95%. In case of B. cereus isolates obtained from microgreen and environmental samples at processing steps showed low genetic similarity.