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Potential enterobacteria risk factors associated with contamination of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) grown in the peri-urban area of Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)
Abstract
and 8.11 log10 cfu/g for the soil of both sites. Lettuce samples from the market were more contaminated by Enterobacteriaceae than those obtained from the production sites. The main enterobacteria isolated were
Salmonella gallinarum, Serratia marcescens and E. coli. All the lettuce samples analysed were contaminated by E. coli and Serratia. The prevalences of Serratia marcescens on lettuce from the market and from the production sites 1 and 2 were 58.33%, 33.33% and 41.67% respectively while those of E. coli were 33.33%, 25% and 8.33% respectively. The most common Salmonella serotypes isolated was Salmonella gallinarum with prevalences of 50%, 41.67%, 58.33%. Salmonella choleraesuis and Shigella sonnei were weakly represented. The manure has the highest potential as a source of contamination and infection of lettuce followed by the soils.