title: A study on prevalence of microbial contamination on the surface of raw salad vegetables.
abstract: The present work evaluates the microbiological quality of raw salad vegetables (RSV) consumed in Dhanbad city, India. A total of 480 samples of 8 different raw salad vegetables from local market were examined for overall microbial quality in terms of aerobic mesophilic, psychrotrophic counts, yeast, mould and total coliform levels. E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella sp. were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) subsequent to isolation. Results showed that all the samples were found positive for total coliform; however, E. coli was detected in 16.7% of the total samples. Pathogenic microorganisms such as E. coli O157:H7, L. monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. were detected in 1.3, 3.5 and 4.0%, respectively, of the total samples. However, pathogens were not detected in any of the cabbage samples. The Exiguobacterium sp. (Strain ISM SP 2014) was detected in the spinach sample while studying the bacterial contamination, reported for the first time on the surface of RSV. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed less than 92% similarity with sequences available in the public domain.
authors.affiliation: Applied Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 826 004, India.
authors.forename: Sujeet Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mritunjay
authors.affiliation: Applied Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 826 004, India. vipinmicro1@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vipin
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kumar
keywords: E. coli O157:H7; Exiguobacterium sp.; L. monocytogenes; Raw salad vegetables; Salmonella sp.