Abstract
The increasing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables and for convenience foods is causing an expansion of the market share for minimally processed vegetables in different areas. Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia witness flourishing of hotel and food industry and eating green salad is a daily habit of about 50% individuals in the country. Hence microbial quality of minimally processed vegetable salads (Tabbouleh, Fattoush, Hummus, Mutabbel and Caesar) being served in restaurants and homes in Riyadh were evaluated to ascertain that they are safe for human consumption and are free from potential food borne pathogens. The samples were assessed for the presence of total aerobic bacterial plate count, total coliforms, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Shigella. The total aerobic plate count for salad prepared in the restaurants was around 2 - 4.5 x 10(5) CFU/g, however, in homemade salads the count was 2-8 x 10(4) CFU/g. The total coliform counts in restaurants salad were around 2-8 x 10(4) CFU/g as compared to 2-4.8 x 10(3) CFU/g of homemade salads. All salads, except Caesar, recorded E. coli and Enterobacter aerogenes, while Shigella sp and Salmonella sp were present in few samples. The results of the present study warrant an urgent need to have strict control measures to eliminate food borne pathogen contamination. This is the first report on microbial quality of the said minimally processed vegetable salads in Saudi Arabia.