Abstract
The microbiological sanitary quality and safety of leafy greens and strawberries were assessed in the primary production in Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, Norway and Spain by enumeration of Escherichia coli and detection of Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) and Campylobacter. Water samples were more prone to containing pathogens (54 positives out of 950 analyses) than soil (16/1186) and produce on the field (18/977 for leafy greens and 5/402 for strawberries). The prevalence of pathogens also varied markedly according to the sampling region. Flooding of fields increased the risk considerably, with odds ratio (OR) 10.9 for Salmonella and 7.0 for STEC. A significant association between elevated numbers of generic E. coli and detection of pathogens (OR of 2.3 for STEC and 2.7 for Salmonella) was established. Generic E. coli was found to be a suitable index organism for Salmonella and STEC, but to a lesser extent for Campylobacter. Guidelines on frequency of sampling and threshold values for E. coli in irrigation water may differ from region to region.
Highlights
Fresh produce is part of a healthy diet and its consumption should be further encouraged
Within the framework of the EU FP7 Veg-i-Trade project the microbiological sanitary quality and safety of leafy greens and strawberries were assessed in the primary production in Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, Norway and Spain by the enumeration of E. coli and the detection of Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) and Campylobacter in these products and in their primary production environment
Climatic parameters and factors were shown to be significantly correlated with the presence of pathogens in the fresh produce production environment in univariable analysis, but with the exception of flooding, their relative importance to other microbiological and agro-technological factors was too little to be retained as significant in the multivariable analysis
Summary
Fresh produce is part of a healthy diet and its consumption should be further encouraged. Most fruits and many vegetables such as leafy greens are typically consumed raw. If these are microbiologically contaminated they present an increased risk for foodborne illness. In Europe a number of cases of E. coli were epidemiologically linked to fresh produce including watercress in England [8], iceberg lettuce in Sweden [9] and lettuce in Iceland and the Netherlands [10].
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