Abstract
Pathogenic E. coli is a major foodborne pathogen associated with gastroenteritis worldwide. Fresh vegetable products as well as raw meat and meat products have been recognized as important modes of transmission within the foodborne route. The objective of the present study was to determine the presence of six virulence factors (stx 1, stx 2, lt, st, eaeA, and ial) in E. coli isolated from fresh vegetable products to provide information on risk assessment of pathogenic E. coli in Korea. From 416 collected samples, including vegetable salad mix, sprouts, baby leaf vegetables, and unpasteurized fruit and vegetable juices commercially available in Korea, a total of 30 samples were positive for E. coli strains, resulting in an overall prevalence of 7.2%. Of the 120 E. coli isolates, only one isolate (0.8%), which was obtained from unpasteurized fruit and vegetable juices, was confirmed to possess the eaeA gene, but lacked stx genes. This study showed that some fresh vegetable product samples were contaminated with enteropathogenic E. coli.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acheson DWK (2000) How does Escherichia coli O157:H7 testing in meat compare with what we are seeing clinically? J Food Prot 63, 819–21.
Bai J, Shi X, and Nagaraja TG (2010) A multiplex PCR procedure for the detection of six major virulence genes in Escherichia coli O157:H7. J Microbiol Methods 82, 85–9.
Bonnet R, Souweine B, Gauthier G, Rich C, Livrelli V, Sirot J et al. (1998) Non-O157:H7 stx2-producing Escherichia coli strains associated with sporadic cases of haemolytic-uremic syndrome in adults. J Clin Microbiol 36, 1777–80.
Buchholz U, Bernard H, Werber D, Böhmer MM, Remschmidt C, Wilking H et al. (2011) German outbreak of Escherichia coli O104:H4 associated with sprouts. New Engl J Med 365, 1768–70.
Cho SH, Oh KH, Kim SH, Oh HB, and Park MS (2010) Distribution of virulence genes and their association of serotypes in pathogenic Escherichia coli isolates from disrrheal patients in Korea. Public Health Res Perpect 1, 29–35.
EFSA (2007) Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Biological Hazards on a request from EFSA on monitoring of verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) and identification of human pathogenic VTEC types. European Food Safety Authority, Italy.
EFSA (2011) Urgent advice on the public health risk of Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli in fresh vegetables. European Food Safety Authority, Italy.
Kaper JB, Nataro JP, and Mobley HL (2004) Pathogenic Escherichia coli. Nat Rev Microbiol 2, 123–40.
Kimata K, Shima T, Shimizu M, Tanaka D, Isobe J, Gyobu Y et al. (2005) Rapid categorization of pathogenic Escherichia coli by multiplex PCR. Microbiol Immunol 49, 485–92.
Kim H, Lee Y, Beuchat LR, Yoon BJ, and Ryu JH (2009) Microbiological examination of vegetable seed sprouts in Korea. J Food Prot 72, 856–9.
KFDA (2012) Statistics of food poisoning outbreaks in Korea. Korea Food and Drug Administration, Korea.
Lee GY, Jang HI, Hwang IG, and Rhee MS (2009) Prevalence and classification of pathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from fresh beef poultry and pork in Korea. Int J Food Microbiol 134, 196–200.
Lee JH, Hyeon JY, Kim YG, Chon JW, Park JH, Park C et al. (2012a) Isolation and characterization of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in retail edible beef by-products. Foodborne Pathog Dis 9, 145–9.
Lee JK, Park IH, Yoon KS, Kim HJ, Cho JI, Lee SH et al. (2012b) An analysis of epidemiological investigation reports regarding to pathogenic E. coli outbreaks in Korea from 2009 to 2010. J Fd Hyg Safety 27, 366–74}.
López-Saucedo C, Cerna JF, Villegas-Sepulveda N, Thompson R, Velazquez FR, Torres J et al. (2003) Single multiplex polymerase chain reaction to detect diverse loci associated with diarrheagenic Escherichia coli. Emerg Infect Dis 9, 127–31.
Luna-Gierke RE, Griffin PM, Gould LH, Herman K, Bopp CA, Strockbine N et al. (2014) Outbreaks of non-O157 shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli infection: USA. Epidemiol Infect 7, 1–11.
Ooka T, Terajima J, Kusumoto M, Iguchi A, Kurokawa K, Ogura Y et al. (2009) Development of a multiplex PCR-based rapid typing method for Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157 strains. J Clin Microbiol 47, 2888–94.
Schmidt H, Rüssmann H, and Karch H (1993) Virulence determinants in nontoxigenic Escherichia coli O157 strains that cause infantile diarrhea. Infect Immun 61, 4894–8.
Schroeder CM, Meng J, Zhao S, Debroy C, Torcolini J, Zhao C et al. (2002) Antimicrobial resistance of Escherichia coli O26, O103, O111, O128, and O145 from animals and humans. Emerg Infect Dis 8, 1409–14.
SCVPH (2003) Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures relating to Public Health on Verotoxigenic E. coli (VTEC) in foodstuffs. Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures relating to Public Health, Belgium.
Seo YH, Jang JH, and Moon KD (2010) Microbial Evaluation of Minimally Processed vegetables and sprouts produced in Seoul, Korea. Food Sci Biotechnol 19, 1283–8.
Vidal M, Kruger E, Durán C, Lagos R, Levine M, Prado V et al. (2005) Single multiplex PCR Assay to identify simultaneously the six categories of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli associated with enteric infections. J Clin Microbiol 43, 5362–5.
Xia X, Meng J, McDermott PF, Ayers S, Blickenstaff K, Tran TT et al. (2010) Presence and characterization of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli and other potentially diarrheagenic E. coli strains in retail meats. Appl Environ Microbiol 76, 1709–17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kim, H.J., Koo, M., Jeong, AR. et al. Occurrence of pathogenic Escherichia coli in commercially available fresh vegetable products in Korea. J Korean Soc Appl Biol Chem 57, 367–370 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13765-014-4073-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13765-014-4073-5