Bacterial contamination of vegetables served in hospitals.

摘要: Objectives : To study bacterial contamination of fresh vegetables before cleaning and serving to patients in 14 hospitals. Material Method Aerobic plate count was performed emphasized on total viable aerobic bacteria, fecal coliform, Escherichia coli enteric pathogens including romaine lettuce, onion, parsley, celery tomato serving. Hospital nutrition officers who were involved food purchasing processing interviewed. Results One hundred six 403 vegetable samples (26.3%) contaminated with > 10 7 colony forming unit per gram (CFU/gram) 106 178 (59.6%) contained MPN/fecal coliform >1,100 / gram, 78 (43.8%) MPN E.coli >10/gram. Enteric bacteria isolated from 7.2% the 304 non typhoid Salmonella (1 sample), Vibrio cholerae O1/O139 (7 samples) Aeromonas species (14 samples). Forty 396 ready serve (10.1%) CFU/gram bacteria. Seventy five 183 (40.9%) coliform/gram 43 (23.5%) >10 E. coli/gram. also detected 7.6% V. (6 (17 There three different ways obtaining hospitals by auction (50%), wholesalers (21.4%) retailers (14.2%). standards transportation, packaging, delivery processing, particularly methods. Conclusion Ready-to-eat high percentages microorganisms number that exceeded standard. Better management is required safeguard patients.