Assessing prevalence of antibiotic resistant microbes on fresh marketed vegetables of Aizawl city

Abstract

Aims: The study was carried out to evaluate the isolation and identification of the prevalent bacterial flora and their antibiotic resistance pattern from fresh vegetables sold in the local markets of Aizawl town. Methodology and results: Three vegetables:- Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), potato (Solanum tuberosum) and cabbage (Brassica Oleracea) were randomly collected from different vendors of three local markets in Aizawl town. All the vegetables were washed with double distilled water and cultured onto Mac-Conkey agar and sub-cultured into nutrient agar to obtain pure culture for the identification. Samples were analyzed to study the density of microorganisms by standard plate count (SPC). Mean microbial load ranged from 2.46×105-11.85×105 CFU/mL for market A; 1.3×104- 2.51×106 CFU/mL for market B and 1.09×105-3.14×106 CFU/mL for market C. Approximately 41 bacterial isolates made up of 7 genera of bacteria were made from the 3 vegetable groups. Enterobacter spp. (39.02%), Klebsiella spp. (26.82), Proteus spp. (9.76%), Staphylococcus spp. (9.76%) and E. coli (4.88%), Citrobacter sp. (4.88%) and Serratia spp. (4.88%) were the bacteria species isolated. Antibiotic sensitivity patterns of the isolates were determined and almost all of them were resistant to commonly used antibiotics. The percentage of Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) bacteria against the total load was very high (80.5%), and the ESBL production is 62.16%. Conclusion, significance and impact study: Vegetable contamination with bacteria was observed in all the three markets A, B and C. Raw vegetables from the markets were considered unfit for making fresh produce for human consumption and adequate cooking with proper handling before consumption is suggested.