Food borne pathogen contamination in minimally processed vegetable salads in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The increasing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables and for convenience foods is causing an expansion of the market share for minimally processed vegetables in different areas. Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia witness flourishing of hotel and food industry and eating green salad is a daily habit of about 50% individuals in the country. Hence microbial quality of minimally processed vegetable salads (Tabbouleh, Fattoush, Hummus, Mutabbel and Caesar) being served in restaurants and homes in Riyadh were evaluated to ascertain that they are safe for human consumption and are free from potential food borne pathogens. The samples were assessed for the presence of total aerobic bacterial plate count, total coliforms, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Shigella. The total aerobic plate count for salad prepared in the restaurants was around 2 – 4.5 x105 CFU/g, however, in homemade salads the count was 2-8 x 104 CFU/g. The total coliform counts in restaurants salad were around 2-8 x 104 CFU/g as compared to 2-4.8 x 103 CFU/g of homemade salads. All salads, except Caesar, recorded E. coli and Enterobacter aerogenes, whileShigella sp and Salmonella sp were present in few samples. The results of the present study warrant an urgent need to have strict control measures to eliminate food borne pathogen contamination. This is the first report on microbial quality of the said minimally processed vegetable salads in Saudi Arabia.   Key words: Saudi Arabia, vegetable salads, fruits, food borne pathogen contamination.