Prevalence and characterization of Salmonella isolated from raw vegetables in China

Abstract Raw vegetables have been associated with numerous foodborne Salmonella outbreaks; however, there is little epidemiological or molecular data on Salmonella contaminants of raw vegetables in China. Here, we investigated the prevalence and molecular characteristics of Salmonella isolates from raw vegetables in China. In total, 406 raw vegetable samples were collected covering most provincial capitals in China. The overall prevalence of Salmonella was 3.4% (14/406), with contamination levels of