Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze microbial hazards for cultivation environments and personal hygiene of strawberry and tomato farms at the growth and harvesting stage. Samples were collected from thirty strawberry farms and forty tomato farms located in Korea and tested for Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus. To investigate the change in the distribution of the S. aureus and B. cereus, a total of 4,284 samples including air born, soil or medium, mulching film, harvest basket, groves and irrigation water etc. were collected from eight strawberry farms and nine tomato farms for one year. As a result, total S. aureus and B. cereus in all samples were detected. Among the total bacteria of strawberry farms, S. aureus (glove: 0~2.1 Log CFU/100 cm², harvest basket: 0~3.0 Log CFU/100 cm², soil or culture media: 0~4.1 Log CFU/g, mulching film: 0~3.8 Log CFU/100 cm²), B.cereus (glove: 0~2.8 Log CFU/100 cm², harvest basket: 0~4.8 Log CFU/100 cm², soil or culture media: 0~5.3 Log CFU/g, mulching film: 0~4.5 Log CFU/100 cm²) were detected in all samples. The total bacteria of tomato farms, S. aureus (glove: 0~4.0 Log CFU/100 cm², harvest basket: 0~5.0 Log CFU/100 cm², soil or culture media: 0~6.1 Log CFU/g, mulching film: 0~4.0 Log CFU/100 cm²), B. cereus (glove: 0~4.0 Log CFU/100 cm², harvest basket: 0~4.3 Log CFU/100 cm², soil or culture media: 0~5.9 Log CFU/g, mulching film: 0~4.7 Log CFU/100 cm²) were detected in all samples. The contamination of S. aureus and B. cereus were detected in soil, mulching film and harvest basket from planting until harvest to processing, with the highest count recorded from the soil. But S. aureus and B. cereus were not detected in irrigation water samples. The incidence of S. aureus and B. cereus in hydroponics culture farm were less than those in soil culture. The amount of S. aureus and B. cereus detected in strawberry and tomato farms were less than the minimum amount required to produce a toxin that induces food poisoning. In this way, the degree of contamination of food poisoning bacteria was lower in the production environment of the Korea strawberry and tomato, but problems can be caused by post-harvest management method. These results will be used as fundamental data to create a manual for sanitary agricultural environment management, and post-harvest management should be performed to reduce the contamination of hazardous microorganisms.
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