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Microbial Contamination, an Increasing Threat to the Consumption of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in Today's World.

ABSTRACT: Microbes are found all over the globe with some few exceptions, including sterilized surfaces. They include normal flora that is nonpathogenic, which contribute to the larger percentage, and pathogenic species which are few. Hence, the activities of humans cannot be completely separated from microbes. Thus, many pathogenic microbes have found their way into fresh fruits and vegetables which are a great source of a healthy diet for humans. The growing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables has necessitated larger production. The larger production of vegetables within the shortest possible time to meet the growing demand has placed them at a higher risk of contamination with the pathogenic microbes, making the safety of consumers uncertain. Study of sources of contamination and type of pathogenic etiological agents isolated from fresh fruits and vegetables includes Bacillus cereus, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium botulinum, E. coli O157: H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Shigella, Staphylococcus, and Vibrio cholera. Several measures have proven to be effective in controlling contamination of microbes and they include the establishment of surveillance systems to monitor the production chain and thoroughly washing vegetables with vinegar water. Saltwater and other washing techniques are effective but caution should be taken to make sure one does not use one cycle of water for washing all vegetables. The consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables is still encouraged by this review but significant measures must be taken to check the safety of these products before consumption.

SUBMITTER: Balali GI

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7269610 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Microbial Contamination, an Increasing Threat to the Consumption of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in Today's World.

Balali Gadafi Iddrisu GI Yar Denis Dekugmen DD Afua Dela Vera Gobe VG Adjei-Kusi Priscilla P

International journal of microbiology 20200522

Microbes are found all over the globe with some few exceptions, including sterilized surfaces. They include normal flora that is nonpathogenic, which contribute to the larger percentage, and pathogenic species which are few. Hence, the activities of humans cannot be completely separated from microbes. Thus, many pathogenic microbes have found their way into fresh fruits and vegetables which are a great source of a healthy diet for humans. The growing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables has ne ...[more]

PMID: 32565813

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Project description:BackgroundAdolescents' consumption of fruits and vegetables is inadequate in most Arab countries, leading to a higher risk of poor health outcomes. This systematic review evaluates fruits and vegetables intake among adolescents in Arab countries, the proportion of adolescents meeting the dietary guidelines in these countries, and the dietary assessment tools used to assess fruits and vegetables intake.MethodsFour databases were searched, MEDLINE, PUBMED, EMBASE, and Web of Science. Studies were eligible if they reported fruit or vegetable consumption among adolescents aged 10 to 19 in 22 Arab countries. The risk of bias in the included studies was assessed by two reviewers independently using the risk of bias tool developed by Hoy et al. Data were extracted and synthesized into three categories; frequency of fruits and vegetables consumption, mean fruits and vegetables consumption, and percentage of adolescents meeting fruits and vegetables consumption recommendations.ResultsThe review included 44 articles utilizing 41 cross-sectional studies. Most studies were school-based, and data was collected from both males and females using self-administered questionnaires. Of those, validated questionnaires were used in 28 studies. According to the World Health Organization recommendation, most studies defined five fruits and vegetables servings as the adequacy cutoff point; other definitions were used in some studies. The reported mean consumption ranged between 6.1 times per week and 4.5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. The proportion of those who met the recommendations of eating five servings per day ranged between 10 and 29%. Fruits were shown to have a lower daily intake than vegetables (4.2 to 53.7% for fruits and 7.8 to 66.3% for vegetables).DiscussionThis review indicated inadequate fruits and vegetables consumption among adolescents in Arab countries and highlighted an increased risk of non-communicable diseases and malnutrition prevalence. A limitation was the incomparability of available data between countries. Further in-depth research on the core reasons behind adolescents' inadequacy in fruits and vegetables consumption is recommended.

Dataset Information

Microbial Contamination, an Increasing Threat to the Consumption of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in Today's World.

Publications

Microbial Contamination, an Increasing Threat to the Consumption of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in Today's World.

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