Microbiological hazard analysis for strawberry farms at the harvest stage to establish good agricultural practices (GAP) model based on principle of HACCP

Abstract

This study assessed hazards at the harvest stage of strawberry farms which may cause risk to humans. A total of 216 samples were collected from 6 strawberry farms (soil culture farms: A, B, C; nutriculture farms: D, E, F) located in Western Gyeongnam. The collected samples were subjected for sanitary indicator bacteria (aerobic plate count, colifonns and Escherichia colt), major foodbome pathogens (?. coli OI57:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp.. Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus), and fungi. The levels of APC and coliform in the soil culture farms were 1.0-6.9 and 0.4-4.6 log CFU/g (leaf, mL, hand or 100 cm2), respectively. The samples obtained from the nutriculture farms were contaminated with the levels of 0.8-4.9, and 0.2-2.6 log CFU/g (leaf, mL, hand or 100 cm2) of APC and coliform. However, E. coli was not detected in any samples. In major foodbome pathogens, 5. aureus was detected at the level of ?3.3 log CFU/hand in workers1 hand samples and B. cereus was detected at the levels of 0.4-4.1 log CFU/g (hand or 100 cm3) in soil, plants and workers' hygiene. L. monocytogenes, E. coli 0157:H7 and Salmonella spp. were not detected. Fungi were detected at the levels of 1.0-5.2 and 0.2-4.4 log CFU/g (leaf, mL, hand or 100 cm2) in soil culture and nutriculture farms, respectively. ? The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology.