Microbiological Quality of Fresh Produce from Open Air Markets and Supermarkets in the Philippines

Table 2

Prevalence of microbial contamination in fresh produce from open air markets and supermarkets in the Philippines by culture and real-time PCR techniques^a.

Fresh produce	E. coli		Salmonella spp. (% and no. of positive/total)		Coliphages
	Open air	Supermarket	Open Air	Supermarket	Open air	Supermarket
Bell pepper	10% (5/50)	20% (2/10)	20% (10/50)	30% (3/10)	62% (31/50)	60% (6/10)
Cabbage	10% (5/50)	20% (2/10)	22% (11/50)	10% (1/10)	52% (26/50)	60% (6/10)
Carrot	22% (11/50)	30% (3/10)	38% (19/50)	50% (5/10)	38% (19/50)	100% (10/10)
Lettuce	24% (12/50)	20% (2/10)	24% (12/50)	30% (3/10)	64% (32/50)	80% (8/10)
Tomato	16% (8/50)	0% (0/10)	18% (9/50)	10% (1/10)	6% (3/50)	0% (0/10)
Total	41/250	9/50	61/250	13/50	111/250	30/50

aValues are expressed in percentages of contaminated fresh produce from 60 per type from all open air markets, 10 fresh produce samples per type from all supermarkets. Values in parentheses are number of positive samples for E. coli, Salmonella spp., and somatic phages over the total produce surveyed.