Molecular epidemiology and prevalence of Escherichia coli contaminaton in fresh vegetables sold at retails in Silchar, Assam, India

Consumption of fresh vegetables is increasing as people strive to eat healthy diets and benefit from the year-round availability of pre-cut salad items. Salad vegetables belong to convenient, minimally processed food of ready-toeat type which carry a natural non-pathogenic epiphytic microflora; the majority of which consists of Gram-negative bacteria belonging to Enterobacteriaceae. In the present study, 350 raw vegetable samples were investigated for the occurrence of Entero Hemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), and only 44(12.6%) samples were detected to be harboring E. coli. The isolates were subjected to PCR detection of EHEC using primers specific for eaeA, ehlyA and fliC virulent genes. According to molecular detection, 9 E. coli isolates exhibited presence of fliC gene, ehlyA and eaeA gene. Antibiotic resistances were detected against Piperacillin/tazobactam, Amoxyclav, Levofloxacin, Azetreonam, Ceftriaxone, Imipenem EDTA, Nalidixic acid, Erythromycin, and Kanamycin.