Bacterial Community of Retail Foods. Bacteria

The diversity of bacterial community of selected foods (lettuce, cabbage, deli meat, and chicken legs) procured from retail outlets located in high and low socioeconomic areas were investigated using pyrosequencing of 16s rRNA. This study was performed in Memphis metropolitan area in Shelby County, Tennessee, USA. The overall aims of this study were to characterize the microbial community structure and diversity, and to enumerate the bacterial load associated with selected food products sold by retail outlets located in food desert/low-income neighborhoods as compared to supermarkets located in high-income locations.