الفهرس 
TitleOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Increase in global trade and organic farming expose consumers to products with limited information on food safety. For example, limited data exist on the use of biocontrol and pesticides. In addition, chemical decontaminants and their impact on food safety is not well known. There are no clear trends in consumption of specific categories of whole fruits and vegetables. However, convenience food items like cut and ready-to-eat fresh fruit and vegetables are increasing. This increase in handling could also increase the potential for product contamination. Water quality is a major factor affecting product contamination in the farm, packhouse, processing facility, and in the home. Vegetables and fruits have been associated with foodborne outbreaks and special legislation provides extra control measures to protect these products.
Good Agricultural Practices and Good Handling Practices are thought to be the basis for safe production of fruits and vegetables, because decontamination steps have limited effects on safety. There are insufficient scientific data to quantify actual risks at each stage in the fresh products chain, but with increased research, industry can gain insight into developing adequate preventive measures. Foodborne illnesses associated with fresh products are low compared to products of animal origin. Detailed traceability programs can improve the epidemiological investigation and identification of factors causing foodborne outbreaks. These investigations would then lead to the control of the causative agent. Because only a few developed nations have surveillance programs on foodborne pathogens in place, it is not easy to compare outbreaks among many countries.
An international effort should take place to introduce surveillance systems in densely populated nations. In addition, scientists should collect data on the potential for organic farming methods to contaminate fresh fruit and vegetables. Governments could play a role in creating national regulations that influence the safe production of fruits and vegetables. The globalization of the food supply requires a concerted effort from all stakeholders, with preventive measures in place from farm to markets to protect the consumer.
This study focuses on the Alexandria, Egypt fresh vegetables contamination and provides a summary of parasitic infections from production to consumption, which conducted in five regions (El-Montazah, East, West, Middle, and El-Gomrok). In the period from June, 2018, to May, 2019, during seasonal variation (autumn, spring, winter, and summer). Through identification of the hazards and review of mitigation measures, fresh vegetables and fruits could continue to spread and provide consumers everywhere with safe and healthy fresh food.
The study revealed the following results, Out of 300 vegetable samples, 70 (23.3%) were contaminated with intestinal parasitic eggs and / or cysts. The parasites detected were Blastocystis (27.14%), Trichomonas hominas (24.28%), E.histolytica / E.dispar (20%), Cryptosporidium oocyst (18.3%), E.coli (8.5%), and Strongyloides stercoralis (1.42%).
Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations
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Overall, the highest parasitic contamination was detected in parsley (43.3%), while carrot had the lowest one (10.0%). Out of 300 samples collected at season years, the highest rate of contaminated vegetables was during the autumn (42.7%) while, the lowest rate was detected during the spring (8.0%). The difference in parasitic prevalence among vegetables samples was not statistically significant (MCp= 0.167), while There was significance difference in the prevalence of parasites in different vegetables examined in different seasons (MCp<0.001). This study showed the high potential for human infection with parasites through consumption of raw vegetables from different region from Alexandria, Egypt. This is an indication that humans are always at risk of infection especially as vegetables is naturally popular in the diet and could not be canceled from any food to people of all classes.
6.2. Recommendation:
1. The local health and environmental authorities should improve the sanitary conditions in areas where vegetables are cultivated and consumed.
2. Adoption of veterinary control programs including treating domestic animals and enforcing separation between humans and environmental measures such as containment of snail intermediate hosts and drainage of grazing lands.
3. Reducing the vegetables contamination with parasites by proper wastewater treatment before use for irrigation. Proper municipal wastewater and sewage disposal systems must be implemented.
4. A comprehensive health education must be provided to the farming community, market vendors, food handlers and general population to inform about the hazards of parasitic contamination through consumption of raw vegetables. This could be done through mass media programs.
5. The potential of fresh vegetables serving as sources of infection with various pathogens is still high. Washing of vegetables with just water is inadequate to remove all contaminating pathogens. Vegetables obtained from open-aired markets are the most contaminated compared to those from supermarkets, hence, both vendors and consumers should be careful when handling them to avoid infection.
6. Despite the importance of proper washing and disinfection of raw eaten vegetables before consumption, but there is no treatment method that can be relied upon to totally disinfect raw product, so further research is needed to establish and validate disinfection methods, individually and in combinations, that minimize risk of illness caused by parasites on raw eaten vegetables.
7. Further researchers are needed in order to:-
Study the viability, larvation and sporulation of the detected parasites.
Study the contamination of other types of vegetables with different parasites.