Assessment of microbial contamination in packed fresh vegetable to ready for use, in Mashhad

Vegetables are one of the main categories of the food pyramid and their consumption plays a vital role in the health promotion of the community. On the other hand, the incidence of microbial diseases caused by the consumption of contaminated vegetables has been increasing. The aim of this study was to determine the microbial contamination of different kinds of ready for use packaged vegetables in Mashhad, Iran. For this, a total of 200 vegetable samples were randomly collected from different regions of Mashhad. samples were examined with the standard methods in terms of the aerobic mesophilic bacteria, coliforms, Escherichia coli, mold, and parasitic eggs. Results showed that in 19%, 14%, 8%, 13%, and 3.5% of the samples, the contamination rate of aerobic mesophilic bacteria, coliform, Escherichia coli, mold, and the parasitic eggs was higher than Iranian National Standard limits, respectively. In addition, a total of 31% of the samples were unusable due to excessive microbial contamination. Therefore, producers and consumers should be given the necessary training to use hygienic rules and stricter preventive measuring is also recommended.