Researchers say pre-sliced vegetables are pathogen repositories
Research published this month concludes pre-sliced vegetables should be considered a standing threat in terms of foodborne pathogens.
“It also underlines the importance of appropriate cooling, transport, re-heating and distribution of meals,” according to the research abstract published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
The scientists reviewed information from a foodborne outbreak of VIM carbapenemase-expressing Citrobacter freundii (CPC) that occurred between February and June 2016 at a major university hospital in Germany. The hospital identified 76 “mostly unrelated” cases in different wards.
Pre-sliced vegetables were found to be the culprit. Repeated testing of pre-sliced vegetables ultimately showed a high degree of contamination “with C. freundii without a carbapenemase,” the researchers reported.
“This report demonstrates that an explosive increase in carbapenemase-expressing Enterobacteriaceae contamination (can) be caused by a foodborne source, and suggests that pre-sliced vegetables have to be taken into account as a putative pathogen repository.”
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