Undercooked meat is unhealthy, so are the ready-to-eat sprouts which is widely sold in the retail market or supermarkets and by vegetable vendors on the roadside.
A study published in the latest edition of the Current Science has found that both undercooked meat and moong daal sprouts are potential sources of food-borne infections.
The researchers had picked a total of 14 chicken meat and 13 ready-to-eat (RTE) sprouted mung bean samples from different retail poultry shops and local street vendors respectively from Mumbai.
After detailed analysis of the samples, the researchers found that pathogens belonging to various bacteria were present in chicken meat and sprouts.
Common food-borne and opportunistic pathogens like Campylobacter, C. perfringens, Streptococcus, Shewanella, Pseudomonas, Aeromonas hydrophila, Staphylococcus, E. coli, Acinetobacter, Enterobacter, Klebsiella were detected and 18 per cent of the genera were common to both food types, said the research team.
The researchers were Onkar A Naik and Archana Rath from Department of Biotechnology, University of Mumbai, and Jayant R. Bandekar and Devashish Rath from Food Technology Division and Molecular Biology Division of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai.
High microbial load was observed in both chicken meat and sprouts samples. In a tropical country like India, warm and humid conditions facilitate rapid proliferation of bacteria in food. Moreover, undercooked food and unhygienic handling practices also contribute to high bacterial load in food samples, the researchers noted.Doctors have attributed poor microbiological quality of the sprouts to unhygienic sprout production and retailing practices.
“If sprouted hygienically, they are safe and healthy. In retail markets where hygiene issues like washing of hand and water quality are not ensured, they become unsafe. Hence, while purchasing them one must ensure that best practices are being maintained,” said Dr Umesh Kapil, from Department of Gastroenterology and Human Nutrition Unit, AIIMS in Delhi.
Though there are no guidelines in India, the US FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems should avoid eating raw sprouts of all kinds, including alfalfa, clover, radish and mung bean sprouts. Sprouts can be “cooked thoroughly to reduce the risk of illness.
Over the past 16 years, there have been at least 30 reported illness outbreaks associated with raw or lightly cooked sprouts abroad. Mike Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia has been quoted as saying “I consider sprouts to be among the most risky foods sold at retail”.
Diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps are common symptoms that occur 12 to 72 hours after infection.
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