A review on microbiological safety of Ready-To-Eat Salads

Abstract

Eating of road side ready-to-eat (RTE) salads that is made with green leafy vegetables (GLVs) commonly lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) or Cress (Lepidium sativum Linn.) as the key constituents coupled with adding tomatoes, sliced onions, cucumber, groundnut cake and so on has been reported to cause severe safety threats owing to its being extremely disposed to microbiologically inclined contamination, thereby leading to a public health issue. Pathogenic microorganisms pollute salads as a result of mishandling of raw vegetables, during preparation of salads and also associated environment. Soils typically harbor abundant microorganisms, some of which are human pathogens such as B. cereus, Clostridium botulinum, C. perfringens, Listeria monocytogenes and Aeromonas. Birds are carriers of pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Campylobacter. Reptiles and arthropods are usually in cultivation fields, and therefore have unrestricted access to produce and many bacterial species have evolved to exploit these animals as hosts or vectors. Insect deterioration creates openings that aid the ingress of pathogens into inner plant tissues, thereby enhancing colonization of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria on produce. Not only animals, similarly people working with the vegetables produce are known to be a source and direct contact vector of microorganisms. Hence this type of food is regarded as potential vehicles of food borne illnesses resulting in large and serious national and international outbreaks. Thus, the essence of this study is to review the safety of the RTE vegetable salads, assessing the contamination level of the most prevalent pathogenic microorganisms. RTE salads can be contaminated with different types of foodborne pathogens from farm-to-fork that makes them unsafe for human consumption. Regulatory bodies should design periodic workshop training for RTE food hawkers to help fix the problems and enhance the effectiveness of RTE vegetables salads preparation. Public awareness on the serious health risk associated with mishandled or poorly prepared minimally processed RTE foods most especially vegetable salads should be considered.