1. Microbiological Quality of Ready-to-Eat Vegetables Collected in Mexico City: Occurrence of Aerobic-Mesophilic Bacteria, Fecal Coliforms, and Potentially Pathogenic Nontuberculous Mycobacteria.
- Author
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Cerna-Cortes JF, Leon-Montes N, Cortes-Cueto AL, Salas-Rangel LP, Helguera-Repetto AC, Lopez-Hernandez D, Rivera-Gutierrez S, Fernandez-Rendon E, and Gonzalez-y-Merchand JA
- Subjects
- Enterobacteriaceae isolation & purification, Enterobacteriaceae pathogenicity, Gram-Negative Bacteria classification, Gram-Negative Bacteria pathogenicity, Humans, Mexico, Nontuberculous Mycobacteria pathogenicity, Food Microbiology, Gram-Negative Bacteria isolation & purification, Nontuberculous Mycobacteria isolation & purification, Vegetables microbiology
- Abstract
The aims of this study were to evaluate the microbiological quality and the occurrence of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in a variety of salads and sprouts from supermarkets and street vendors in Mexico City. Aerobic-mesophilic bacteria (AMB) were present in 100% of RTE-salads samples; 59% of samples were outside guidelines range (>5.17 log10 CFU per g). Although fecal coliforms (FC) were present in 32% of samples, only 8% of them exceeded the permissible limit (100 MPN/g). Regarding the 100 RTE-sprouts, all samples were also positive for AMB and total coliforms (TC) and 69% for FC. Seven NTM species were recovered from 7 salad samples; they included three M. fortuitum, two M. chelonae, one M. mucogenicum, and one M. sp. Twelve RTE-sprouts samples harbored NTM, which were identified as M. porcinum (five), M. abscessus (two), M. gordonae (two), M. mucogenicum (two), and M. avium complex (one). Most RTE-salads and RTE-sprouts had unsatisfactory microbiological quality and some harbored NTM associated with illness. No correlation between the presence of coliforms and NTM was found. Overall, these results suggest that RTE-salads and RTE-sprouts might function as vehicles for NTM transmission in humans; hence, proper handling and treatment before consumption of such products might be recommendable.
- Published
- 2015
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