Detection of Klebsiella pneumoniae in raw vegetables using Most Probable

Son, R.; Loo, Y.Y.; Yoshitsugu, N.; John, Y.H.T.; Lye, Y.L.; Nillian, E.; Kuan, C.H.; Puspanadan, S.; Nishibuchi, M.; Afsah-Hejri, L.; Rukayadi, Y.; Goh, S.G.; Chang, W.S.

Detection of Klebsiella pneumoniae in raw vegetables using Most Probable

2012

Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) is one of the most important members of Klebsiellagenus in Enterobacteriacae family, which is responsible for pneumonia (the destructive lunginflammation disease). Vegetables are known as source of contamination with K. pneumonia.Raw vegetables are usually consumed in salads and other dishes. The aim of this study wasto investigate the occurrence of K. pneumoniae in raw vegetables marketed in Malaysia. Twohundred commonly used salad vegetables (lettuces, parsley, cucumber, tomato and carrot) fromhypermarkets and wet markets were investigated for presence of K. pneumoniae using MostProbable Number-Polymerase Chain Reaction (MPN-PCR). K. pneumoniae was found to besignificantly more frequent (100%) and (82.5%) in lettuce and cucumbers, respectively. K.pneumoniae contamination was lowest in carrot samples (30%). All samples were contaminatedwith K. pneumoniae ranging from <3 to 1100 MPN/g. Results showed the high health riskassociated with consumption of raw vegetables.

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