Irrigation water quality and the benefits of implementing good agricultural practices during tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) production

Abstract

The implementation of good agricultural practices (GAP) from irrigation water to the tomato packaging process enhances the safety of fresh produce and its value throughout the food chain. The aim of the present study was to show that fresh produce farms that apply and enforce GAP could reduce the presence of Salmonella in finished produce. Samples were collected biweekly from six packing houses from the central region of Sinaloa, México, for the isolation of Salmonella spp by the ISO 6579:2002 method, and the isolated strains were serotyped and genotyped by the Kauffmman-White scheme and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), respectively. Salmonella strains were detected in 13 (36.1 %) irrigation water samples, while only two tomato samples were positive (5.5 %). Eight different serotypes were identified in irrigation water, and Salmonella Oranienburg (34 %) was the most prevalent; however, only Salmonella Agona and Salmonella Weltevreden were present on tomatoes. Salmonella Oranienburg was the most widely dispersed and variable serotype, with 10 different PFGE profiles. Salmonella Weltevreden was isolated from both types of samples, albeit with distinct genetic profiles, implying that the sources of contamination differ. These results confirm the utility of implementing good agricultural practices to reduce Salmonella contamination in irrigation water and the packaging process.

Prevalence of Salmonella, Escherichia coli and coliforms on bell peppers from the field to the packing house process

“…López-Cuevas et al (2009) found Salmonella Typhimurium, as well as Infantis, Anatum, Agona, Oranienburg, Minnesota in agricultural water in the Culiacan region. Similarly, Estrada-Acosta et al (2014) found Salmonella Oranienburg in the Culiacan river. These findings highlight the needs for microbial determination numbers to determine the impact of the pathogen in water.…”

“…Culiacan is the capital of Sinaloa and is located in the Northwestern part of Mexico. This particular region is rich in vegetable produce farms that export several crops to the United States each year, particularly tomatoes and bell peppers (CIAD, 2006;Estrada-Acosta et al, 2014). In an effort to examine microbial contamination in this region, a comprehensive study to determine the presence of bacterial pathogens and the identification of critical points during the production chain is needed.…”

Fecal contamination in irrigation water and microbial quality of vegetable primary production in urban farms of Metro Manila, Philippines

“…[3,8,10,15,29,[43][44][45][46][47][48] In addition, farmers and farm workers can contribute to contamination through improper hygiene and crop handling. [3,4,15,44,45,47,48] Irrigation water also plays an important role in the preharvest contamination of fresh produce [3][4][5] which may potentially transmit pathogenic microorganims, such as Shigella, Vibrio spp., pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli, rotaviruses, adenoviruses, and enteroviruses. [22,49,50] Detecting the presence of fecal indicator microorganisms is therefore important to assess potential levels of pathogenic microbial contamination in primary production environments.…”

In vitro invasiveness and intracellular survival of Salmonella strains isolated from the aquatic environment

“…Consumption of water and food contaminated with Salmonella are the main routes of infection for gastrointestinal diseases (López et al, ). At the same time, this pathogen has been characterized by its prevalence and high distribution in the environment, especially in aquatic environments, particularly in the rainy season by the contaminated drag effect of organic matter (Simental and Martinez‐Urtaza, ; Estrada‐Acosta et al, ; Jimenez et al, ).…”

“…Several Salmonella strains have been isolated and characterized from some Mexico’s water bodies, and the most prevalent serotypes found in these studies were Oranienburg and Saintpaul (Lopez‐Cuevas et al, ; Jimenez et al, ; Estrada‐Acosta et al, ; Jimenez et al, ). While these two serotypes are nontyphoidal strains, they have been linked to food‐borne outbreaks, at the global and national levels, mainly associated with the consumption of fruits and vegetables (CDC, ; Vazquez‐Garciduenas et al, ).…”