title: Frequency of indicator bacteria, Salmonella and diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli pathotypes on ready-to-eat cooked vegetable salads from Mexican restaurants.
abstract: The presence of coliform bacteria, faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, diarrhoeagenic E. coli pathotypes (DEP) and Salmonella were determined in ready-to-eat cooked vegetable salads (RECS) from restaurants in Pachuca city, Mexico. The RECS were purchased from three types of restaurants: national chain restaurants (A), local restaurants (B) and small restaurants (C). Two restaurants for each A and B, and three for C, were included. Forty RECS samples were purchased at each A and B restaurant and 20 at each C restaurant. Of the overall total of 220 analysed samples, 100, 98·2, 72·3, 4·1 and 4·1% had coliform bacteria, faecal coliforms, E. coli, DEP and Salmonella, respectively. Identified DEP included enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). The EPEC, ETEC and STEC were isolated each from 1·4% of samples. No E. coli O157:H7 were detected in any STEC-positive samples. The analysis of Kruskal-Wallis anova and median test of microbiological data showed that the microbiological quality of RECS did not differ between the different restaurants (P > 0·05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first report regarding microbiological quality and Salmonella, enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) isolation from ready-to-eat cooked vegetable salads from Mexican restaurants. Ready-to-eat cooked vegetable salads could be an important factor contributing to the endemicity of EPEC, ETEC and STEC, and Salmonella caused gastroenteritis in Mexico.
authors: Centro de Investigaciones Químicas, Instituto de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería, Ciudad del Conocimiento, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Mineral de la Reforma, Hidalgo, Mexico.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Bautista-De León
authors: C A
authors: CA
authors: Gómez-Aldapa
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Rangel-Vargas
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Vázquez-Barrios
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Castro-Rosas
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003296:Cooking; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D054308:Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification; D054307:Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005516:Food Microbiology; D008800:Mexico; D012147:Restaurants; D012475:Salmonella / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D054323:Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014675:Vegetables / Q000382:microbiology*