Norovirus Contamination of Bell Pepper from Handling During Harvesting and Packing

Abstract

To evaluate the impact of harvesting and packinghouse operation on the contamination of green bell pepper (GBP) with viruses and enteric bacteria. Hands of 97 workers plus 40 GBP were sampled from field and packinghouse areas. RT-nested PCR were used for the identification of Noroviruses (NV) and Chromogenic agar for the quantification of coliforms and Escherichia coli. NV was found in 30.9 and 23.7% of workers' hands, before and after 3 h of work, respectively, while 45 and 30% of field and packed GBP was positive for NV. Fecal coliforms and Escherichia coli were present in 68 and 57.3% and 12.4 and 11.1% of workers' hands before and after 3 h of work, respectively. Fecal coliforms were detected in 85 and 15% of field and packed GBP, respectively, while E. coli was absent. There was no significant correlation between bacterial indicator and NV in the analyzed samples (P [ 0.05). Handling of fresh produce by workers during harvesting and packing operations has negative impacts on fresh produce safety.

Zero Risk Does Not Exist: Lessons Learned from Microbial Risk Assessment Related to Use of Water and Safety of Fresh Produce

“…Of these, contaminated irrigation water has received the greatest attention. However, food handlers, particularly those for hand‐picked products, have been identified as important contributors to the overall microbiological quality of fresh produce (Leon‐Felix and others ). So has contamination with pathogens present in soil/biosolids (Seidu and others ).…”

Quantitative Detection of Hepatitis A, Rotavirus and Genogroup I Norovirus by RT‐qPCR in Fresh Produce from Packinghouse Facilities

“…One of the few studies looking for viruses in crops in northwest of Mexico was done by Leon‐Felix et al . . They looked for the presence of NoV in bell peppers using RT‐nested PCR and found the presence of NoV in 45% of the samples from the field and 30% from packed peppers (Leon‐Felix et al .…”

New developments in safety testing of soft fruits

“…When studying the opposite route of transmission, they found that 14% of FCV could be transferred from lettuce to bare hands (Bidawid et al , 2004(Bidawid et al , , 2000a. This ease of reversible viral transfer between workers and produce was later supported in a fi eld study (León-Félix et al , 2010) evaluating the impact of harvesting and packinghouse operations on the contamination of green bell pepper with NoV. When testing the workers' hands for NoV before and after 3 hours of work, they were able to show a change in the rates of positivity of 0% to 14% for pickers, 53% to 33% for classifi ers and 45% to 25% for packers.…”

“…Clear legislation on the use, handling and treatment of water applied in industrial fresh produce production should be effi cient to reduce the risk of pathogens from faecal contamination (EFSA BIOHAZ, 2011). Moreover, it has been shown that handling of fresh produce by workers during harvesting and packing is an important risk factor for not least NoV contamination of fresh produce (León-Félix et al , 2010). Implementation of improved hygienic measures is therefore needed in agricultural operations to avoid risk of viral contamination .…”

“…Potential microbiological risks are the main safety issue with fresh fruit. Fresh produce is most often contaminated as a result of poor practice in primary production and/or misuse of natural and environmental resources (Brassard et al , 2012;Newell et al , 2010), for example the irrigation of produce with polluted water (including possible contamination through roots owing to drop irrigation (Urbanucci et al , 2009)), contact with human faeces or faecal soiled materials and poor hygiene practice by food handlers during harvest (León-Félix et al , 2010). Furthermore, contamination may arise by inappropriate practices during processing or at the point of sale/ consumption (Boxman et al , 2011;Daniels et al , 2000;Schmid et al , 2007).…”