Abstract
We examined 974 samples (304 coriander, 212 mint, 258 carrot, and 200 radish) collected from vegetable vendors in two cities, Bareilly (n = 832) and Kanpur (n = 142), in northern India during the early summer season in 2004. Salmonella was isolated from 35 samples (9 coriander, 5 mint, 10 radish, and 11 carrot) while Escherichia coli was detected in 181 samples (67 coriander, 44 mint, 36 carrot, and 34 radish). None of the E. coli belonged to the O:157 serogroup. Five Salmonella isolates from samples collected at Kanpur (3 coriander and 2 mint) belonged to 4 different serovars of S. enterica ssp. enterica—S. Mons, S. Rottenest, S. Saintpaul, and S. Weltevreden. Thirty Salmonella isolates from samples collected at Bareilly (11 carrot, 10 radish, 6 coriander, and 3 mint) belonged to 7 serovars—S. Anatum, S. Bsilla, S. Newport, S. Saintpaul, S. Teko, S. Virchow, and S. Weltevreden. The majority (82.9%) of Salmonella isolates were multidrug resistant. One quarter of the isolates were resistant to ≥10 antibiotics. Based on antibiotic resistance patterns, 35 isolates could be classified into 23 resistotypes. None of the 35 isolates was resistant to streptomycin and ceftriaxone, while >80% were resistant to sulfamethoxazole, nalidixic acid, and kanamycin. Resistance to imipenem (>20%) and amikacin (>30%) was also common. The correlation between presence of Salmonella and E. coli on raw vegetables was not significant (p = 0.13).
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