Microbiological Quality of Ready-to-Eat Vegetables Collected in Mexico City: Occurrence of Aerobic-Mesophilic Bacteria, Fecal Coliforms, and Potentially Pathogenic Nontuberculous Mycobacteria

Table 1

Populations and frequencies of aerobic-mesophilic bacteria (AMB), total coliforms (TC), and fecal coliforms (FC) on RTE-salads and RTE-sprouts samples.

Microorganisms group	Minimum	Median	Maximum	Frequency (%)	Number of samples out of the 093 guideline^* (%)
RTE-salads from SPM^a
AMB	3	4.9	6.6	50 (100)	21 (42)
TC	<3	56	>1100	46 (92)	NA
FC	<3	<3	210	7 (14)	2 (4)
RTE-salads from SVS^a
AMB	3	6.1	6.7	50 (100)	38 (76)
TC	3	1100	>1100	50 (100)	NA
FC	<3	1.5	>1100	25 (50)	6 (12)
RTE-sprouts from SPM^a
AMB	6.1	7.4	8	50 (100)	NA
TC	6.1	460	>1100	50 (100)	NA
FC	<3	3.3	>1100	29 (58)	NA
RTE-sprouts from SVS^a
AMB	6.1	7.3	8.8	50 (100)	NA
TC	26	1100	>1100	50 (100)	NA
FC	<3	23.5	>1100	40 (80)	NA

= 50. Minimum, median, and maximum values are in CFU per g for aerobic-mesophilic bacteria and in most probable number (MPN) per g for total coliforms and fecal coliforms. SPM: supermarkets, SVS: street-vendor stalls, and NA: not applicable (there is no official guideline for this food).
^*Guideline that establishes that food samples should contain up to 5.17 CFU per g (150,000 CFU/g) of AMB and up to 100 MPN/g of FC.