Microbiological Quality of Fresh Vegetables and Fruits Collected from Supermarkets in Istanbul, Turkey

摘要

Two hundred sixty one samples, collected from supermarkets in Istanbul, Turkey. All samples were analysed for aerobic mesophilic bacterial counts (AMC), aerobic psychrotrophic bacterial counts (APC), enumeration of yeasts and moulds (YM), coliforms, Escherichia coli and detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, thermotolerant Campylobacter spp. AMC ranged from 2.95 to 3.75 log_(10) CFU/g. APC ranged from 0 to 3.55 log_(10) CFU/g. The highest counts of coliforms were found in carrot, spinach, green leaf lettuce, cos lettuce and iceberg lettuce. The highest counts of YM were found in tomato, spinach, green leaf lettuce, cos lettuce and iceberg lettuce. Green leaf lettuces, cos lettuces, iceberg lettuces, spinach and carrot were highly contaminated with aerobic mesophilic (3.6 log_(10) CFU/g), psychrotrophic microorganisms (3.4 log_(10) CFU/g), and showed a high incidence of E.coli (41.77% of samples). Of the samples analysed, 10 (3.83%) were Salmonella spp. positive and 17 (6.51%) were thermotolerant Campylobacter spp. positive. None of the samples was positive for Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes. Fresh vegetables and fruits, sold in Istanbul, Turkey, are needed to control foodborne pathogens especially Salmonellosis and Campylobacteriosis.