P2-78 Microbiological Quality and Safety of Fresh Produce and an Assessment of Post-harvest Practice of Vendors at West Virginia and Kentucky Farmers’ Markets

Tuesday, August 2, 2016
America's Center - St. Louis
KaWang Li, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
Lacey Lemonakis, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
Jordan Garry, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
Jennifer Weidhaas, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
Hanna Khouryieh, Western Kentukcy University, Bowling Green, KY
Martin Stone, Western Kentukcy University, Bowling Green, KY
Lisa Lagana, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
Cangliang Shen, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
Introduction: Fresh produce sold at farmers’ markets (FMs, <$500,000 annually) raises food safety concerns due to their exemption of Food Safety Modernization Act. No information is available regarding microbial quality/safety of produce at West Virginia- and Kentucky-FMs.

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the microbiological quality/safety of 5 different fresh produce from WV- and KY-FMs, and assess the post-harvest practices of vendors at Morgantown-WV-FM.

Methods: A total of 212 produce samples including tomatoes (64 samples, 13 vendors), green peppers (54 samples, 11 vendors), cucumbers (35 samples, 5 vendors), cantaloupes (16 samples, 2 vendors) and spinaches (43 samples, 8 vendors) were randomly purchased from two Morgantown-WV-FMs and one Bowling Green-KY-FM during fall 2015. Buffered-peptone-water (BPW) processed samples were analyzed for the aerobic-plate-counts (APCs), total-coliform-counts (TCCs), and yeast/molds population on petrifilms, and were secondly-enriched in Rappaport-Vassiliadis (Salmonella enterica spp.) and UVM broth (Listeria spp.) followed by streak-plating onto XLD (Salmonella enterica spp.) and Modified-Oxford agar (Listeria spp). Presumptive Salmonella and Listeria colonies were confirmed by API20E-kit+qPCR (Salmonella-InvA gene) and Listeria12L-kit+multiplex-PCR, respectively. A follow-up survey (20 questions) was conducted to assess the post-harvest practices of 28 vendors at Morgantown-WV-FM. Data (3 repeats/10-20 samples/repeat) were analyzed using the ANOVA and Chi-Square test of SAS.

Results: Among 212 samples, APCs, TCCs, and yeast/molds were 3.72-5.63, 3.67-5.47, and 3.07-4.13 log CFU/g, respectively, and spinach significantly contained the highest (P<0.05) population of APCs, TCCs, and yeast/molds. Salmonella enterica spp. was detected on 10.9% (7/64) of tomatoes, 18.5% (10/54) of peppers, 56.3% (9/16) of cantaloupes, and 18.6% (8/43) of spinach. Only 3.78% (8/212) of samples were confirmed for Listeria spp., and 50% (4/8) were identified as L. monocytogenes. Survey showed that 74% (20/27) venders washing produce with only 9% (2/23) using sanitizers/antimicrobials, and 50% (7/14) did not refresh sanitizers.

Significance: Results showed Salmonella and Listeria present on fresh produce at local FMs, and indicated that developing post-harvest protocols to control foodborne pathogens and developing Good Agriculture Practices training material/courses are important for FM vendors.