Abstract
Accessing food through wet markets is a common global daily occurrence, where fresh meat can be purchased to support an urbanizing world population. Similar to the wet markets in many other metropolitan cities in Asia, Hong Kong wet markets vary and are characterized by differing hygiene routines and access to essential modern technologies. The lack of risk assessments of food contact surfaces in these markets has led to substantial gaps in food safety knowledge and information that could help improve and maintain public health. Microbial profiling analyses were conducted on cutting boards that had been used to process pork, poultry, and seafood at 11 different wet markets. The markets differed in hygiene protocols and access to modern facilities. Irrespective of whether wet markets have access of modern infrastructure, the hygiene practices were largely found to be inefficient based on the prevalence of bacterial species typically associated with foodborne pathogens such as Campylobacter fetus, Clostridium perfringens, Staphylococcus aureus, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus; indicator organisms such as Escherichia coli; as well as nonfoodborne pathogenic bacterial species potentially associated with nosocomial infections, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter cloacae. Other Vibrio species, V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus, typically associated with contaminated raw or undercooked seafood with the potential to cause illness in humans, were also found on wooden cutting boards. This study indicated that the hygienic practices used in Hong Kong wet markets are not sufficient for preventing the establishment of spoilage or pathogenic organisms. This study serves as a basis to review current hygiene practices in wet markets and provides a framework to reassess existing safety protocols.
Highlights
Most people in developing countries still rely on wet markets to purchase their daily food supplies
Higher diversity was generally observed in samples from boards used for seafood, followed by samples from boards used for poultry and pork in both traditional and modern market types
This study demonstrated measurable variations among bacterial populations on wooden cutting boards used for different food types and sourced from different types of wet markets
Summary
Most people in developing countries still rely on wet markets to purchase their daily food supplies. A recent study conducted in Brazil showed that wooden cutting board surfaces were responsible for cross-contamination of foodborne pathogens from poultry to cucumber [3]. Less is known about cross-contamination and bacterial ecology in cutting boards from Asian wet markets. Bacterial fingerprint assemblages associated with meat cutting board surfaces [4] identified pathogenic species such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, which is well known to cause nosocomial infections and harbor multidrug resistance [5]. A study conducted on meat sold in a Nepalese wet market reported the presence of foodborne pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Pseudomonas spp., Vibrio spp., and Shigella spp. Another study reported bacterial contamination of beef sold at wet markets in Malaysia [7]. In Hong Kong, a technical report indicated the presence of Salmonella on pork meat from a wet market [8] and in ready-to-eat meat products from different meat stalls [9]
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