Farm Management, Environment, and Weather Factors Jointly Affect the Probability of Spinach Contamination by Generic Escherichia coli at the Preharvest Stage

Multifactorial Effects of Ambient Temperature, Precipitation, Farm Management, and Environmental Factors Determine the Level of Generic Escherichia coli Contamination on Preharvested Spinach

“…Collection and manipulation of weather and local landscape variables were performed following the general procedure suggested by Ivanek et al (29) and described in detail in our previous study (13). Briefly, weather and landscape information of interest were obtained from the National Resource Information (NRI) databases based on the GPS coordinates recorded for the individual spinach sampling locations.…”

“…According to these studies, produce contamination with E. coli may occur from various sources (e.g., soil amendments such as raw or improperly composted manure [5,6,11,13], contaminated irrigation water [6], and fecal deposition through domestic animal and wildlife [6,13]) and may be aggravated due to weather conditions that aid transport of E. coli to produce (e.g., rain events) or increase the survivability and growth rate of E. coli (e.g., high humidity). They have also shown that the probability of contamination decreased with implementation of GAPs, such as providing toilets and handwashing facilities to field workers (6,13) and avoiding application of animal manure (5,6,11,13). Our systematic review study (14) indicated that the majority of these risk factors for contamination with generic E. coli have been confirmed to play a role in produce contamination with foodborne pathogens, such as Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7.…”

“…Although numerous studies have evaluated farm-related factors influencing the microbial contamination of produce (5,6,(11)(12)(13)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22), only a limited number of studies (16,17,23) examined the bacterial count on produce as affected by risk factors other than the farming type (e.g., organic or conventional farm) (5,12,(18)(19)(20). Surprisingly, to our knowledge, no study has systematically assessed the impact of farm-related factors, including management practices, environment, landscape, and weather factors, on the bacterial count on produce.…”

“…Several studies (5,6,(11)(12)(13) have been conducted to identify the farm-related management practices, environmental, landscape, and weather factors affecting generic E. coli contamination of produce at the preharvest level. According to these studies, produce contamination with E. coli may occur from various sources (e.g., soil amendments such as raw or improperly composted manure [5,6,11,13], contaminated irrigation water [6], and fecal deposition through domestic animal and wildlife [6,13]) and may be aggravated due to weather conditions that aid transport of E. coli to produce (e.g., rain events) or increase the survivability and growth rate of E. coli (e.g., high humidity).…”

Relationship Between Operational Characteristics of Small Non-Community Drinking Water Systems and Adverse Water Quality Incidents in Southern Ontario, Canada

“…According to O'Dwyer et al (2014), aquifer type and rainfall amount impact the vulnerability of groundwater sources. Collins et al (2005) and Park et al (2014) also identify a correlation between the increased rainfall amount and the presence of Escherichia coli (Migula, 1895) in water sources (surface and/or ground water). Another significant cause of ground water contamination with total coliform and E. coli is industrial activities such as mining operations (Armah, 2014) and livestock or non-point sources.…”