A three-year survey of Florida packinghouses to determine microbial loads on pre- and post-processed tomatoes

Abstract Prevention of microbial cross-contamination during postharvest handling is an important step to minimize microbial food safety hazards of produce. Dump tanks and flume systems are widely used in many states (e.g., Florida) to transfer/wash tomatoes, and are one of the most critical points where cross-contamination may occur. This study presents data gathered over three years (2013, 2014, and 2015) on tomatoes collected from five growing regions in Florida to evaluate the risk associated with postharvest processing of tomatoes in commercial packinghouses. A total of 840 and 839 composite samples, from pre- and post-processed tomatoes, respectively, were analyzed for aerobic plate count (APC), and total coliforms (TC) and generic E. coli (EC). The least square mean (LSM) value of APC for all samples (both pre- and post-processed) was 6.0 log CFU/tomato (n = 840), whereas the LSM for TC counts was 4.1 log CFU/tomato (n = 839). Ninety-one (10.8%) and 820 (97.7%) out of 839 samples of post-processed samples had TC and generic EC counts below the detection limit of 1.3 log CFU/tomato, respectively. APC and TC counts in post-processed samples were significantly lower (p