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P1-17 Microbiological Safety Assessment for Cultivation Farms of Balloon Flower to Establish a Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Model

Monday, July 29, 2013
Exhibit Hall (Charlotte Convention Center)
Chae-Won Lee, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South Korea
Su-Hee Park, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South Korea
Kyeongyeol Kim, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South Korea
Jeong-Sook Kim, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South Korea
Won-Bo Shim, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, South Korea
Duck-Hwa Chung, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South Korea
Introduction: Balloon flower is a perennial herb widely spread in Northeast Asia and generally used as a common food and folk remedy. Since the plant has been usually cultivated in soil, significant microbial contamination which causes food poisoning on balloon flowers is predicted. 

Purpose: Objectives of this study were to assess microbial risks of balloon flower farm at the cultivation stage and to provide basic data for the establishment of a good agricultural practices (GAP) model.

Methods: Samples (96 samples) were collected from cultivation environments (soil, irrigation water, and atmosphere), plants (balloon flower and leaf), and personal hygiene (hand, glove, cloth) of 3 balloon flower farms during cultivation. The collected samples were subjected to determine sanitary indicators (aerobic plate count, coliforms and Escherichia coli), major foodborne pathogens (Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella spp.), and fungi.

Results: Aerobic plate count and coliform bacterial populations in the all samples were detected at levels of 2.7~7.0 and 1.0~6.4 log CFU/(g, leaf, ml, hand, 100 cm2), but E. coli was not detected in all samples. The levels of fungi in the all samples were 1.0~5.3 log CFU/(g, leaf, ml, hand, 100 cm2). In case of pathogens, B. cereus was only determined in the range of 4.0~5.7 log CFU/g in soil samples, and S. aureus (1.8 log CFU/ hand or 100 cm2) was also detected in the workers. However, other pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli, E. coli O157, L. monocytogenes and Salmonella were not detected anywhere.

Significance: According to the results, the microbial population on the balloon flowers was lower than the regulation set by Korean government. However, since cross-contamination of microorganism from cultivation environments and worker has been generally reported, an efficient GAP model is necessary to improve the safety of balloon flower for microbiological hazards. Therefore, the results could be used as basic data to establish GAP model for the production of safe balloon flowers.

Back to: Poster Session 1 - Risk Assessment, Food Toxicology, Beverages & Water, Meat & Poultry, Dairy & Other Food Commodities, Food Defense, Communication Outreach & Education, Non-microbial Food Safety, General Microbiology, Epidemiology, Seafood, Microbial Foo
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