Simulation of Cross-Contamination and Decontamination of Campylobacter jejuni during Handling of Contaminated Raw Vegetables in a Domestic Kitchen

Authors: Chai, Lay-Ching¹; Lee, Hai-Yen¹; Ghazali, Farinazleen Mohd¹; Bakar, Fatimah Abu¹; Malakar, Pradeep Kumar²; Nishibuchi, Mitsuaki³; Nakaguchi, Yoshitsugu³; Radu, Son¹

Source: Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 71, Number 12, December 2008 , pp. 2448-2452(5)

Publisher: International Association for Food Protection

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Abstract:

Campylobacter jejuni was found to occur at high prevalence in the raw salad vegetables examined. Previous reports describe cross-contamination involving meat; here we investigated the occurrence of cross-contamination and decontamination events in the domestic kitchen via C. jejuni-contaminated vegetables during salad preparation. This is the first report concerning quantitative cross-contamination and decontamination involving naturally contaminated produce. The study was designed to simulate the real preparation of salad in a household kitchen, starting with washing the vegetables in tap water, then cutting the vegetables on a cutting board, followed by slicing cucumber and blanching (heating in hot water) the vegetables in 85°C water. Vegetables naturally contaminated with C. jejuni were used throughout the simulation to attain realistic quantitative data. The mean of the percent transfer rates for C. jejuni from vegetable to wash water was 30.1 to 38.2%; from wash water to cucumber, it was 26.3 to 47.2%; from vegetables to cutting board, it was 1.6 to 10.3%; and from cutting board to cucumber, it was 22.6 to 73.3%. The data suggest the wash water and plastic cutting board as potential risk factors in C. jejuni transmission to consumers. Washing of the vegetables with tap water caused a 0.4-log reduction of C. jejuni attached to the vegetables (most probable number/gram), while rapid blanching reduced the number of C. jejuni organisms to an undetectable level.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: National Food Safety Research Centre, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia 2: Department of Food Safety Science, Institute of Food Research, Norwich University Park, NR4 7UA, Norwich, United Kingdom 3: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Publication date: 2008-12-01

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First published in 1937, the Journal of Food Protection^®, is a refereed monthly publication. Each issue contains scientific research and authoritative review articles reporting on a variety of topics in food science pertaining to food safety and quality. The Journal is internationally recognized as the leading publication in the field of food microbiology with a readership exceeding 11,000 scientists from 70 countries. The Journal of Food Protection^® is indexed in Index Medicus, Current Contents, BIOSIS, PubMed, Medline, and many others.

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Simulation of Cross-Contamination and Decontamination of Campylobacter jejuni during Handling of Contaminated Raw Vegetables in a Domestic Kitchen

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