Autori: P. Delaquis, S. Bach, L-D. Dinu

Editorial: Journal of Food Protection, vol. 70, no. 8, p.1966-1974, 2007.

Rezumat:

Leafy vegetables including lettuce and spinach have been implicated in several outbreaks of foodborne disease caused by Escherichia coli O157:H7, a pathogen of increasing public health significance due to the severity of gastrointestinal illness and long term, chronic sequellae that can result from infection. Definitive association between consumption of leafy vegetables and human disease provides implicit evidence of transfer from animal sources to field crops and retail commodities, including minimally processed or fresh-cut products. Understanding the behavior of E. coli O157:H7 in leafy vegetables during production, after harvest, in storage, during processing and in packaged fresh-cut products is essential for the development of effective control measures. To this end, previous research on the fate of the species at each step in the production of market-ready leafy vegetables is reviewed in this work. Several critical gaps in knowledge are identified, notably uncertainty about the location of contaminating cells on or in plant tissues, behavior in packaged products stored at low temperatures and the influence of environmental stresses on growth and infectivity.

Cuvinte cheie: microbiologie alimentara // food microbiology, microbial food safety, microbial ecology of foods