Monitoring of Bacterial Pathogens in Agricultural Products and Environments at Farms in Korea

A total of 142 samples comprising vegetables, soil, and water collected from different agricultural farms (five provinces) were analyzed for total aerobic bacteria (aerobic plate count [APC]), Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and Staphylococcus aureus. The average of total APC in all the samples ranged from $4.72{\times}10^5$ to $8.62{\times}10^8\;CFU/g$ (mL). The prevalence of B. cereus, E. coli, L. monocytogenes, S. spp., and S. aureus for all samples was 17.60%, 2.11 %, 1.4%, 0%, and 2.11 % respectively, and their counts averaged to $4.87{\times}10^4\;CFU/g$ (mL), $4.34{\times}10^3\;CFU/g$ (mL), $2.15{\times}10^2\;CFU/g$, 0 CFU/g, and $3.12{\times}10^3\;CFU/g$ respectively. Among the 3 different types of samples, 6 vegetables (10.34%), 24 soil (38.70%), and 3 water (13.64%) samples were found to be positive for bacterial pathogens. The result showed that the occurrence of bacterial pathogen in the samples analyzed was low. Further time to time monitoring and need to wash of raw agricultural products is recommended.