Monitoring the effect of environmental conditions on safety of fresh produce sold in Qatar’s wholesale market

ABSTRACT

Fresh produce imported by Qatar are mostly sold at the wholesale produce market (WPM) located in open-air and near major animal markets and slaughterhouses. This study was the first in Qatar to monitor the effect of environmental conditions on the microbial quality and safety of fresh produce sold at the WPM over 1 year. The monitoring involved the collection of 540 produce samples along with samples of air, soil, and surface swabs. Samples were analyzed for total aerobic bacteria (TAB); generic Listeria spp., Staphylococcus spp., Salmonella spp.; total coliforms and total fungi. Bacterial and fungal isolates were identified using 16S rRNA/ITS rRNA markers. Environmental/sanitary factors significantly impacted the prevalence of microorganisms in all samples tested. Produce quality was rated ‘poor’ during the months of November–February or May–August, with TAB and coliform counts exceeding 6 and 4 log₁₀ CFU/g, respectively. Bacillus subtilus, Enterobacter cloacae, E. faecium, P. expansium, P. aurantiocandidum, and A. niger were the most abundant species with prevalence rate of 11–30%. The high microbial load of environmental samples indicates that the location of the WPM near livestock markets is likely impacting the microbial quality of fresh produce. Therefore, effective control measures need to be implemented at WPM to improve produce safety yearlong.

KEYWORDS:

• Fresh produce
• environmental conditions
• microbial quality
• qatar

Acknowledgments

Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library.

This study was supported by a GSRA grant # (GSRA2-1-0615-14038) from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar foundation) and QU Student Grant (QUST-CAS-SPR-2017-12). The findings achieved herein are solely the responsibility of the author(s). We would like to thank the Microbiology Laboratory at Sidra Medicine for microbial identification, Qatar Meteorology Department for providing us with the meteorological data, and the wholesale market manager for allowing us to collect all the samples analyzed in this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Qatar National Research Fund [GSRA2-1-0615-14038].