Monitoring of Bacterial Pathogens in Agricultural Products and Environments at Farms in Korea

Abstract

A total of 142 samples comprising vegetables, soil, and water collected from different agricultural farms (five provinces) were analyzed for total aerobic bacteria (aerobic plate count [APC]), Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and Staphylococcus aureus. The average of total APC in all the samples ranged from 4.72×105 to 8.62 ×108 CFU/g (mL). The prevalence of B. cereus, E. coli, L. monocytogenes, S. spp., and S. aureus for all samples was 17.60%, 2.11%, 1.4%, 0%, and 2.11% respectively, and their counts averaged to 4.87×104 CFU/g (mL), 4.34×103 CFU/g (mL), 2.15×102 CFU/g, 0 CFU/g, and 3.12×103 CFU/g respectively. Among the 3 different types of samples, 6 vegetables (10.34%), 24 soil (38.70%), and 3 water (13.64%) samples were found to be positive for bacterial pathogens. The result showed that the occurrence of bacterial pathogen in the samples analyzed was low. Further time to time monitoring and need to wash of raw agricultural products is recommended.