Microbiological quality of packed vegetables

All fresh foods and vegetables have micro-organisms on their surfaces, often in enormous numbers, and these can grow rapidly to spoil foods. Food quality has implications mplications to human health, and vegetable is becoming increasingly recognized as a vehicle for pathogen transmission to humans. Since produce is often eaten raw and pathogens may persist after washing, it is essential to identify potential routes of contamination in the production environment in order to establish preventative measures.One of the main purpose of the uses of packaging is to prevent micro-organisms from spoiling the product during distribution and storage which may affect the contamination level of vegetables since there are also less number of microbiological studies in monitoring these vegetables in Malaysia. The aim of this study was to determine the microbiological quality of common vegetables sold in packed and non- packed forms in Kota Bahru, Kelantan in order to provide insight into any potential risk to consumers. A total 114 samples were tested for aerobic mesophilic count (AMC). The results counts for packed vegetables ranged from 1.67 ± 0.84 to 378.33 ± 13.58 CFU/g with the lowest and the highest counts recorded for cabbage and bean sprout respectively. Apart from that, the lowest and the highest counts for non- packed vegetables were cabbage and tomato which ranged from 3.70 ± 0.44 to 423.0 ± 123.26CFU/g. The result also showed that there was significant difference between types of vegetables and types of packaging at P- value less than 0.05. Although the type of packaging material and bacteria were not tested in this study, high bacterial indicator counts (B10) imply that good agricultural practices (GAP) and proper postharvest handling should be implemented to improve the microbiological quality of vegetables.