Salmonella Contamination of Fresh Salad Produce: Prevalence, Impact and Reduction Strategies

Abstract

Fresh salad produce such as lettuce and spinach are an important part of a healthy diet, but are increasingly becoming associated with infection from foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella enterica. This review examines the incidence and origins of Salmonella fresh salad leaf colonization, models the behaviour of the pathogen when within a bagged salad and considers the various infection risk reduction strategies relevant to salad growers, distributors and consumers which can be employed to improve the microbiological safety of fresh salad leaves