The consumption of “ready-to-eat” agricultural products is recently increasing and the safety of these agricultural products is forefront of public concerns. The 120 samples of paprikas, strawberries and tomatoes, which are the representative exported agricultural products, were purchased at the department stores and discount stores in Daejeon. And we determined the microbiological and parasitological contamination level of these agricultural products using culture media, multiplex PCR, commercial bacterial detection kit and microscopy, and also evaluated the decontamination method. Mean counts of total aerobic bacteria from these agricultural products ranged from 1.3×104 CFU/g to 1.8×105 CFU/g, and mean counts of coliforms ranged from 1.4×103 CFU/g to 9.6×103 CFU/g. There was no significant difference in the level of bacterial contamination between the agricultural products from department stores and the ones from discount stores. Strawberry showed the highest contamination level for the bacteria and we also found the unidentified parasite eggs. Enterobacter cloacae was the most frequently isolated bacteria strain, but no food poisoning pathogenic bacteria except Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from the products by multiplex PCR. Compared to unwashed products, tab water-washed ones showed 80% decrease of the counts of total aerobic bacteria on the agricultural products, and the rates decreased more by incorporating detergent or ultrasonic wave treatment. We concluded that the biological contamination levels among paprikas, strawberries and tomatoes were the highest in strawberries, but there were not significant difference according to distribution systems.

Background: The public has increasing concerns about herbal crops owing to insufficient information on biological hazards such as foodborne pathogens. Therefore, the objective of this study is the development of a herbal crop quality control system through monitoring with biological hazard analysis. Today, it is estimated that millions of people become ill every year from food contamination. The public demands agricultural products of stable and consistent quality. Governments have the responsibility of establishing the standards, legislation and enforcement programs necessary to control food quality and safety. However, research on the biosafety of herbal crop products is still insufficient. Therefore, the implementation of monitoring systems with high standards is critical for public safety. Methods and Results: In this study, we collected 52 samples of herbal crop products, and conducted both quantitative and qualitative biological hazard analysis. With biological hazard analysis, aerobic bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, Coliforms, and Listeria spp. could be detected. Conclusions: Herbal crops were found to be contaminated with aerobic bacteria at 3.69 ± 0.32 log CFU/g. Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, Coliforms, and Listeria spp. were not detected in any of the samples. This research suggests that continuous monitoring of biological hazards is required to improve the quality of herbal crops.

최근 친환경 농산물에 대한 소비자의 관심이 높아짐에 따라서 이들 친환경 농산물의 안전성에 대한 검증 요구가 증대되고 있다. 본 연구는 26종의 엽채류 및 4종의 과채류를 대상으로,재배유형(재래농법 및 유기농법)및 유통 경로 (대형마트 및 유기농전문점)에 따른 세균 및 기생충의 오염을 선택 감별배지, 자동 세균 동정 시스템, 현미경 관찰로 조사하였다. 수세하지 않은 농산물에 부착한 세균 집락 수는 농산물 균질액 1 mL(농산물 0.1 g) 당 범