A study on the prevalence of microbial contamination of cabbage (Brassica oleracea L.1753) in an urban area located in Daloa, Centre-West Côte d’Ivoire

Market gardeners in urban production are an essential source of fresh vegetables in the cities. Cabbages, like other urban market gardeners, are produced in difficult contexts, pushing producers to use wastewater for irrigation and animal manure as fertilizer. These practices would encourage soil contamination and production by various microorganisms often dangerous to human health. The aim of this study was to monitor production and assess microbial contamination of cabbage (Brassica oleracea) produced in the city of Daloa. An investigation was developed to determine the production of this vegetable. This survey revealed that the majority of actors were adults (> 30 years old) male dominated (63 %) and poorly educated (53 % illiterate). The main inputs were poultry manure, a mixture of dung and cow dung. The production process was empirical; which would increase the risk of contamination. The search for contamination flora as well as some potentially pathogenic bacterial species by reference microbiological standards was carried out on 18 cabbage samples from a production site. These microbiological analyzes revealed a high level of contamination by microflora, reflecting a deficit of good production and hygiene practices, particularly mesophilic aerobic germs, yeasts and molds, enterobacteria, fecal coliforms and fecal streptococci. All samples were contaminated with both Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella spp. The CFU loads of microflora and bacterial species exceeded the microbiological standards for fresh vegetables. The cabbage produced on the study site investigated would represent a danger for the populations of Daloa, consumers of these fresh vegetables on the various public markets.
Keywords: Contamination, Brassica oleracea, Daloa