Survey of fresh vegetables for nematodes, amoebae, and Salmonella

Contamination by nematodes, amoebae, and bacteria of the genus Salmonella was estimated in a 2-year survey of salad vegetables obtained from wholesale and retail sources. The vegetables examined were cucumbers, cabbage, lettuce, celery, carrots, radishes, tomatoes, mushrooms, cauliflower, and spinach. Nematode eggs and larvae were recovered by the Nacconol-ether centrifugation method. Some nematode eggs were identified as parasitic Ascaris sp.; the majority of larval nematodes were thought to be soil-dwelling species. Amoebae were recovered by rinsing the vegetables with distilled water, centrifuging the rinse water, and transferring the sediment to agar plates on which a bacterial lawn had previously been grown; trophozoites identified as the potentially pathogenic species--Acanthamoeba polyphaga, A. rhysodes, and A. castellanii--were the most common amoebae recovered on the plates. Salmonella spp. were grown from 4 of 50 samples.