Enteric pathogens in Mexican sauces of popular restaurants in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Houston, Texas.
BACKGROUND
The transmission of traveler's diarrhea is primarily foodborne.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the level of microbial contamination of tabletop sauces found in Mexican-style restaurants.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study of Mexican sauces.


METHODS
Mexican restaurants in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Houston, Texas, during the summer of 1998.


METHODS
71 sauces from Guadalajara and 25 sauces from Houston were examined. The number of sauces contaminated with Escherichia coli, the median number of E. coli colonies per gram of sauce, and enteropathogens were identified.


RESULTS
47 of 71 sauces from Guadalajara were contaminated with E. coli versus 10 of 25 sauces from Houston (P = 0.03); the median number of E. coli colonies per gram of sauce was 1000 in the Guadalajara sauces versus 0.0 in the Houston sauces (P = 0.007). Among sauces from Guadalajara tested for diarrheogenic E. coli, 4 of 43 sauces contained enterotoxigenic E. coli and 14 of 32 contained enteroaggregative E. coli.


CONCLUSIONS
Contamination with E. coli was common in samples of Mexican tabletop sauces from Guadalajara restaurants. These sauces commonly contained enteric pathogens.
Adachi
Javier A
JA
University of Texas, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Mathewson
John J
JJ
Jiang
Zhi-Dong
ZD
Ericsson
Charles D
CD
DuPont
Herbert L
HL
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D005502:Food; D005511:Food Handling; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008800:Mexico; D013781:Texas