摘要：We evaluated the microbial contamination of 17 types of vegetable and 10 types of fruit after 30-s washing with tap water with and without subsequent disinfection by 10-min immersion in 0.01% (100 ppm) sodium hypochlorite. The mean microbial contamination level of 9 types of leafy vegetable was 2.8×105 colony-forming units (CFU)/g after washing with water and 3.4×104 CFU/g after washing followed by disinfection. The mean microbial contamination level of 8 types of nonleafy vegetable was 3.4×104 CFU/g after washing with water and 1.0×104 CFU/g after washing followed by disinfection. The mean microbial contamination level of 10 types of unpeeled fleshy fruit was 9.3×103 CFU/g after washing with water and 1.3×103 CFU/g after washing followed by disinfection. The contaminants in vegetables and unpeeled fruit were similar after washing and after washing followed by disinfection, including Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa . The contamination did not markedly decrease even after disinfection with sodium hypochlorite. However, the flesh of each type of peeled fruit showed no or only low levels of contamination (≤10 CFU/g), probably caused by the transfer of microorganisms from the skin of fruit via fruit knives.
