Abstract

This study aimed to contribute to the health safety of widely consumed vegetables in Ouagadougou by investigating the potential contamination of onion, tomato, cucumber and lettuce with pathogenic microorganisms. A survey was conducted, involving 102 producers in fields, 102 vendors in markets, and 205 consumers. The most commonly consumed vegetables were identified as onion, tomato, cucumber and lettuce. A total of 264 samples, comprising 80 from fields and 184 from markets, were subjected to microbiological analysis, focusing on the isolation and identification of Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. In market samples, onions exhibited the highest contamination with E. coli, registering a value of 316.2 × 103 CFU/g, while tomatoes showed the least contamination with E. coli at a load of 6.7 × 10³ CFU/g. Lettuce had the highest prevalence of Salmonella at 20.31%, while onions had the lowest prevalence at 2.38%. For field samples, cucumbers demonstrated the highest contamination with E. coli at 10 × 103 CFU/g, whereas onions had the least contamination at 2.4 × 10³ CFU/g. Salmonella was only detected in lettuces, with a prevalence of 4.76%.

Key words: Convenience vegetables, Escherichia coli, evaluation, microbial contamination, Salmonella spp.