Thermophilic Campylobacter spp. in salad vegetables in Malaysia

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to combine the techniques of most probable number (MPN) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for quantifying the prevalence and numbers of Campylobacter spp. in ulam, a popular Malaysian salad dish, from a traditional wet market and two modern supermarkets in Selangor, Malaysia. A total of 309 samples of raw vegetables which are used in ulam were examined in the study. The prevalences of campylobacters in raw vegetables were, for supermarket I, Campylobacter spp., 51.9%; Campylobacter jejuni, 40.7%; and Campylobacter coli, 35.2%: for supermarket II, Campylobacter spp., 67.7%; C. jejuni, 67.7%; and C. coli, 65.7%: and for the wet market, Campylobacter spp., 29.4%; C. jejuni, 25.5%; and C. coli, 22.6%. In addition Campylobacter fetus was detected in 1.9% of raw vegetables from supermarket I. The maximum numbers of Campylobacter spp. in raw vegetables from supermarkets and the wet market were >2400 and 460 MPN/g, respectively.

Recovery of Resistant Thermophilic Campylobacters on Farm and Market Vegetables

“…These practices which are common among people involved in vegetable trade in the study region have also been confirmed by several authors as sources of contamination (Beuchat, 1996;Beuchat, 2002;Amoah et al, 2007;Chai et al, 2007). Campylobacter jejuni was the dominant species identified in this study which is consistent with works from other countries.…”

“…Globally, there is limited data on Campylobacter contamination in vegetables (Kumar et al, 2001;Chai et al, 2007 Khalid et al, (2014). Much lower levels; 3.1%, 3.57%, and 7.5% have also been reported in Canada, India and Brazil, respectively (Park and Sanders, 1992;Kumar et al, 2001;Carvalho et al, 2013).…”

“…In our market vegetables, 61.5% were C. jejuni and 23.0% C. coli and 50% and 21.4% were C. jejuni and C. coli in the farm vegetables. In Canada, Park and Sanders (1992) reported 88% of C. jejuni and 4% C. coli in vegetables purchased from outdoor markets and supermarkets while in Malaysia, Chai et al, (2007) reported 40.7% C. jejuni and 35.2% C. coli from supermarkets. The high isolation rate of C. jejuni as opposed to C. coli supports the theory that C. jejuni is more resilient to environmental stresses (Gonzalez and Hänninen, 2012;Bronowski et al, 2014); as Chai et al, (2009) also failed to isolate C. coli from soil and manure in Malaysia.…”

“…Campylobacter presence in the environment, particularly in water as well as soil is well documented (Chai et al, 2007;Chai et al, 2009). The use of Campylobactercontaminated water to wash vegetables may result in banking the organism on the surface of the product.…”

Prevalence of sixCampylobacterspecies in a New Zealand dairy goat herd

“…Shellfish, raw vegetables or water contaminated with poultry or bovine wastes have also been associated with Campylobacter infections (Donnison & Ross 1999;Miller & Mandrell 2005;Chai et al 2007). Therefore, the majority of research on Campylobacter has been related directly or indirectly to the poultry and cattle reservoirs.…”