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Journal of Biological Sciences

Year: 2006 | Volume: 6 | Issue: 1 | Page No.: 28-30
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Research Article

Bacteriological Quality of Salad Vegetables Sold in Amravati City (India)

D. H. Tambekar and R. H. Mundhada

ABSTRACT

Salad vegetables are consumed without any heat treatment, sometimes without washing and peeling and therefore the possibility of food borne diseases is more. Vegetables get contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms while growing in field or orchards or during harvesting, post harvesting handling, processing and distribution. Total 50 samples of different salad vegetables were analysed and 86 bacterial pathogens were isolated. Among them Escherichia coli was found to be predominant (38.3%), followed by Enterobacter aerogenes (20.9%), Pseudomonas sp. (16.2%), Staphylococcus aureus (15.1%), Salmonella sp. (5.8%) and Shigella sp. (3.4%). The presence of Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes and Pseudomonas sp. is observed on all samples of salad vegetables. The present study revealed the potential hazard of street vended salad vegetables, therefore needs vigorous washing of vegetables with safe running water before consuming to reduces the number of microorganisms.
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