Microbiological Risk from Minimally Processed Packaged Salads in the Dutch Food Chain

The objective of this study was to evaluate the microbial hazard associated with the consumption of mixed salads produced under standard conditions. The presence of Salmonella, Campylobacter spp., and Escherichia coli O157 in the Dutch production chain of mixed salads was determined. Microbial prevalence and concentration data from a microbiological surveillance study were used as inputs for the quantitative microbial risk assessment. Chain logistics, production figures, and consumption patterns were combined with the survey data for the risk assessment chain approach. The results of the sample analysis were used to track events from contamination through human illness. Wide 95% confidence intervals around the mean were found for estimated annual numbers of illnesses resulting from the consumption of mixed salads contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 (0 to 10,300 cases), Campylobacter spp. (0 to 92,000 cases), or E. coli (0 to 800 cases). The main sources of uncertainty are the lack of decontamination data (i.e., produce washing during processing) and an appropriate dose-response relationship.