Microbial Quality of Irrigation Water in Serbia: Risks to Food Safety

Abstract

The human pathogen bacteria can colonize and contaminate fresh vegetables and fruits in any part of production chain. Water for irrigation is recognized as a potential source of pathogens that can cause foodborne illnesses. Water is a very effective vector of the transmission of human pathogen to plants, so microbiologically safe water has a unique role in a safe food production. Due to expected water scarcity, the availability of good-quality water for irrigation will be affected, and irrigated agriculture will be challenged. Therefore, a sufficient resource of quality water for irrigation is crucial for sustainable agricultural production. Generally, in Serbia, all surface water resources (canals and rivers) are polluted to some extent, which becomes obvious particularly during the growing season. Even the quality of shallow groundwater occasionally exhibits the levels of faecal indicator bacteria that exceed the limits proposed by international standards for irrigation water quality. The presence of Escherichia coli, E. coli O157:H7, L. monocytogenes, Salmonella spp. on different kind of fresh vegetables has been confirmed, using different methods, i.e. PCR, green fluorescent protein (Gfp) for transformation bacteria, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). This research shows the ability of the human pathogens to surface, and