Abstract

Fruits and salads are the healthy sources of nutrients for many people’s regular meals served in
restaurants, hotels and in the food points of various educational institutions. However, vegetable
salads have been linked with outbreaks in many continents all over the globe, which resulted in
several health issues. Reason behind the contamination of salads is primarily the poor hygiene
management. Carrot, cucumber, onion, cabbage and tomato samples are most commonly sold
salads by street vendors and restaurants and stated as common source of transmission. Aim of this
study was to probe the prevalence of most common bacterial strains of the salad samples, which
are served in and sold by local street vendors, canteens and restaurants. Present investigation
revealed a serious concern of the variable bacterial loads in the salad and vegetable samples.
Spreading awareness of the potential health risks were also discussed in the present study, which
are associated with poor handling of these salads and vegetables.