Victoria Brusa, Magdalena Costa, Juan M Oteiza, Lucía Galli, Patricia A Barril, Gerardo A Leotta, Marcelo Signorini
{"title":"Prioritization of vegetable-borne biological hazards in Argentina using a multicriteria decision analysis tool.","authors":"Victoria Brusa, Magdalena Costa, Juan M Oteiza, Lucía Galli, Patricia A Barril, Gerardo A Leotta, Marcelo Signorini","doi":"10.1177/10820132231180640","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Vegetables, especially those eaten raw, have been implicated in several foodborne disease outbreaks. Since multiple vegetable matrices and hazards are involved, risk managers have to prioritize those with the greatest impact on public health to design control strategies. In this study, a scientific-based risk ranking of foodborne pathogens transmitted by leafy green vegetables in Argentina was performed. The prioritization process included hazard identification, evaluation criteria identification and definition, criteria weighting, expert survey design and selection and call for experts, hazard score calculation, hazard ranking and variation coefficient, and result analysis. Regression tree analysis determined four risk clusters: high (<i>Cryptosporidum</i> spp., <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i>, Norovirus), moderate (<i>Giardia</i> spp., <i>Listeria</i> spp., <i>Shigella sonnei</i>), low (Shiga toxin-producing <i>Escherichia coli</i>, <i>Ascaris</i> spp., <i>Entamoeba histolytica</i>, <i>Salmonella</i> spp., Rotavirus, Enterovirus) and very low (<i>Campylobacter jejuni</i>, hepatitis A virus and <i>Yersinia pseudotuberculosis</i>). Diseases caused by Norovirus, <i>Cryptosporidium</i> spp. and <i>T. gondii</i> do not require mandatory notification. Neither viruses nor parasites are included as microbiological criteria for foodstuff. The lack of outbreak studies did not allow to accurately identify vegetables as a source of Norovirus disease. Information on listeriosis cases or outbreaks due to vegetable consumption was not available. <i>Shigella</i> spp. was the main responsible for bacterial diarrhea, but it has not been epidemiologically associated with vegetable consumption. The quality of the available information for all hazards studied was very low and low. The implementation of good practice guidelines throughout the entire vegetable production chain could prevent the presence of the identified hazards. The current study allowed the identification of vacancy areas and could help reinforce the need for performing epidemiological studies on foodborne diseases potentially associated with vegetable consumption in Argentina.</p>","PeriodicalId":12331,"journal":{"name":"Food Science and Technology International","volume":" ","pages":"680-696"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Food Science and Technology International","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10820132231180640","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/6/12 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, APPLIED","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Vegetables, especially those eaten raw, have been implicated in several foodborne disease outbreaks. Since multiple vegetable matrices and hazards are involved, risk managers have to prioritize those with the greatest impact on public health to design control strategies. In this study, a scientific-based risk ranking of foodborne pathogens transmitted by leafy green vegetables in Argentina was performed. The prioritization process included hazard identification, evaluation criteria identification and definition, criteria weighting, expert survey design and selection and call for experts, hazard score calculation, hazard ranking and variation coefficient, and result analysis. Regression tree analysis determined four risk clusters: high (Cryptosporidum spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Norovirus), moderate (Giardia spp., Listeria spp., Shigella sonnei), low (Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, Ascaris spp., Entamoeba histolytica, Salmonella spp., Rotavirus, Enterovirus) and very low (Campylobacter jejuni, hepatitis A virus and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis). Diseases caused by Norovirus, Cryptosporidium spp. and T. gondii do not require mandatory notification. Neither viruses nor parasites are included as microbiological criteria for foodstuff. The lack of outbreak studies did not allow to accurately identify vegetables as a source of Norovirus disease. Information on listeriosis cases or outbreaks due to vegetable consumption was not available. Shigella spp. was the main responsible for bacterial diarrhea, but it has not been epidemiologically associated with vegetable consumption. The quality of the available information for all hazards studied was very low and low. The implementation of good practice guidelines throughout the entire vegetable production chain could prevent the presence of the identified hazards. The current study allowed the identification of vacancy areas and could help reinforce the need for performing epidemiological studies on foodborne diseases potentially associated with vegetable consumption in Argentina.
期刊介绍:
Food Science and Technology International (FSTI) shares knowledge from leading researchers of food science and technology. Covers food processing and engineering, food safety and preservation, food biotechnology, and physical, chemical and sensory properties of foods. This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).