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Microbiological analysis of seed sprouts in Norway.
Int J Food Microbiol 2002 May 5;75(1-2):119-26
Robertson LJ, Johannessen GS, Gjerde BK, Loncarevi S.
Department of Pharmacology, Microbiology and Food Hygiene, The Norwegian School
of Veterinary Science, Oslo. lucy.robertson@veths.no
As part of larger survey of microbial contamination of fruits and vegetables in
Norway, four different sprouted seed products were analysed for bacterial and
parasitic contaminants (n = 300 for bacterial analyses and n = from 17 to 171
for parasite analyses, depending on parasite). Escherichia coli O157,
Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Cyclospora oocysts, Ascaris eggs and other
helminth parasites were not detected in any of the sprout samples.
Thermotolerant coliform bacteria (TCB) were isolated from approximately 25% of
the sprout samples, with the highest percentage of TCB positive samples in
alfalfa sprouts. Most TCB were Enterobacter spp. and Klebsiella. E. coli was
isolated from 8 of 62 TCB positive mung bean sprout samples. Cryptosporidium
oocysts were detected in 8% of the sprout samples and Giardia cysts were
detected in 2% of the samples. All the Cryptosporidium positive samples, and
most of the Giardia positive samples, were mung bean sprouts. Parasite
concentrations in positive samples were low (between 1 and 3 oocysts/cysts per
50 g sprouts). Sprout irrigation water was also analysed for microbial
contaminants. E. coli O157 and L. monocytogenes were not detected. TCB were
isolated from approximately 40% of the water samples. Salmonella reading was
isolated from three samples of spent irrigation water on 3 consecutive days.
Cryptosporidium and Giardia were also isolated from spent irrigation water.
Additionally, eight samples of unsprouted mung bean seed were analysed for
Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts. One or both of these parasites were
detected in six of the unsprouted seed samples at concentrations of between 1
and 5 oocysts/cysts per 100 g unsprouted seed. Whilst our results support spent
irrigation water as the most suitable matrix for testing for bacteria,
unsprouted seed is considered the more useful matrix for analysing for parasite
contaminants.
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