1.1: Background of Study
Food hygiene has been defined as meaning all the measures necessary for ensuring the safety, wholesomeness and soundness of the food at all stages from farm to table. The object of food hygiene practice consists of the production and serving of food as free as possible from contamination.
Vegetables provide the body with vitamins and minerals in addition to the basic carbohydrates and proteins. Vitamins and minerals are not stored for long in the human body and, hence, there is need for daily consumption.
In the past decade, outbreaks of human illness associated with the consumption of raw vegetables and fruits have increased. Changes in agronomic, harvesting, distribution, processing and consumption patterns and practices have undoubtedly contributed to this increase. Pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridium botulinum and Bacillus cereus are naturally present in some soils and their presence on fresh produce is not rare. Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Vibrio cholerae, parasites and viruses are more likely to contaminate fresh produce through vehicles such as raw or improperly composted manure, irrigation water containing untreated sewage or contaminated wash water.
Contact with mammals, reptiles, fowl, insects, and unpasteurized products of animal origin offers another avenue through which pathogens can access produce. Surfaces, including human hands, which come in contact with whole or cut produce represent potential points of contamination throughout the total system of growing, harvesting, packing, processing, shipping and preparing produce for consumption. Treatment of produce with chlorinated water reduces populations of pathogenic and other microorganisms on fresh produce but cannot eliminate them. Reduction of risk for human illness associated with raw produce can be better achieved through controlling points of potential contamination in the field, during harvesting, processing, distribution, in markets or at home (Beuchat and Ryu 1997).
Vegetables serve as a major part of our food supply. Raw vegetables harbor a number of pathogenic microorganisms, which may be dispersed over the plants or appear as microcolonies embedded in the plant tissues. Themicrobiological contaminants may have an adverse health effect. Fresh vegetables normally carry natural non.pathogenic epiphytic microorganisms, however, during growth, harvest, transportation, and further handling the produce can be contaminated with pathogens from animal and human sources. As most of these produce are eating without further processing, their microbial content mayrepresent a risk factor for the consumer’s health. The recent recognition of fresh fruits and vegetables as major vehicles of foodborneillness has led to increased research on mechanisms by which enteric pathogens contaminate and persist on and in this non.host environment. Interactions between foodborne pathogens and plants as well among the naturally occurring microbialcommunities contribute to endophytic and epiphytic colonization.
Consumption of fruit and vegetable products is commonly viewed as a potential risk factor for infection with enteropathogens such as Salmonella and Escherichiacoli O157, with recent outbreaks linked to lettuce, spinach and tomatoes. Routes of contamination are varied and include application of organic wastes to agricultural land as fertilizer, contamination of waters used for irrigation with faecal material, direct contamination by livestock, wild animals and birds and postharvest issues such as worker hygiene.
1.2 Aim of Study
To investigate the microbiological quality of freshly consumed vegetable (solanummacrocarpon leaves) sold in Eke.Awka Market.
1.3 Specific Objectives of Study