The hygienic quality of vegetables grown in or imported into the Netherlands: a tentative survey

Abstract

SUMMARY: Samples of 61 home grown and 199 imported vegetables of different varieties were examined forEscherichia coli, faecal streptococci and, whenE. coliwas present, for salmonellas. Eleven per cent of samples contained > 10⁴E. coliper 100 g, and 14% > 10⁶faecal streptococci per 100 g. Salmonellas were isolated from 23 out of 103 samples examined.Salmonellas were isolated from 8% of 76 samples withE. coli4/100 g, but from 63% of 27 samples withE. coliexceeding 10⁴/100 g; from 6% of 65 samples containing < 10⁶faecal streptococci/100 g but from 51% of 37 samples containing more than 10⁶/100 g.S. typhiwas isolated from one sample of vegetables imported from the tropics. To our knowledge this is the first isolation ofS. typhifrom food in the Netherlands. Products from tropical countries were found to present the highest level of contamination. The hygienic quality of Dutch products is sometimes inferior to that of similar imported products, although the different seasons of sampling may have influenced the result. For the prevention of risk to the consumer of vegetables, good kitchen hygiene would appear to be the most important factor.