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Coliform Contamination of Peri-urban Grown Vegetables and Potential Public Health Risks: Evidence from Kumasi, Ghana.
J Community Health. 2016 Apr; 41(2):392-7.JC

Abstract

Peri-urban vegetable farming in Ghana is an important livelihood activity for an increasing number of people. However, increasing quality and public health concerns have been raised, partly because freshwater availability for irrigation purposes is a major constraint. This paper investigated on-farm vegetable contamination and potential health risks using samples of lettuce, spring onions and cabbage randomly selected from 18 vegetable farms in peri-urban Kumasi, Ghana. Vegetable samples were tested for total coliform, fecal coliform, Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. bacteria contamination using the Most Probable Number method. Results show high contamination levels of total and fecal coliforms, and Escherichia coli bacteria in all 18 vegetable samples. The mean total coliform/100 ml concentration for spring onions, lettuce and cabbage were 9.15 × 10(9), 4.7 × 10(7) and 8.3 × 10(7) respectively. The mean fecal coliform concentration for spring onions, lettuce and cabbage were also 1.5 × 10(8), 4.15 × 10(7) and 2.15 × 10(7) respectively, while the mean Escherichia coli bacteria contamination for spring onions, lettuce and cabbage were 1.4 × 10(8), 2.2 × 10(7) and 3.2 × 10(7) respectively. The level of total coliform, fecal coliform and Escherichia coli bacteria contamination in all the vegetable samples however declined as the distance between the main water source (Wiwi River) and farms increases. Nonetheless, all contamination levels were well above acceptable standards, and could therefore pose serious public health risks to consumers. Increased education and supervision of farmers, as well as public health and food hygiene education of consumers, are critical to reducing on-farm vegetable contamination and the health risks associated with consumption of such vegetables.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Abass K
Department of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. abakabila@yahoo.com.
Ganle JK
School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana. zabzugu.gan@gmail.com.
Adaborna E
Department of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. erickaakyire2@gmail.com.

MeSH

AgricultureEscherichia coliFood ContaminationGhanaHumansPublic HealthRisk AssessmentSuburban PopulationVegetables

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

26512013

Citation

Abass, Kabila, et al. "Coliform Contamination of Peri-urban Grown Vegetables and Potential Public Health Risks: Evidence From Kumasi, Ghana." Journal of Community Health, vol. 41, no. 2, 2016, pp. 392-7.
Abass K, Ganle JK, Adaborna E. Coliform Contamination of Peri-urban Grown Vegetables and Potential Public Health Risks: Evidence from Kumasi, Ghana. J Community Health. 2016;41(2):392-7.
Abass, K., Ganle, J. K., & Adaborna, E. (2016). Coliform Contamination of Peri-urban Grown Vegetables and Potential Public Health Risks: Evidence from Kumasi, Ghana. Journal of Community Health, 41(2), 392-7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-015-0109-y
Abass K, Ganle JK, Adaborna E. Coliform Contamination of Peri-urban Grown Vegetables and Potential Public Health Risks: Evidence From Kumasi, Ghana. J Community Health. 2016;41(2):392-7. PubMed PMID: 26512013.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Coliform Contamination of Peri-urban Grown Vegetables and Potential Public Health Risks: Evidence from Kumasi, Ghana. AU - Abass,Kabila, AU - Ganle,John Kuumuori, AU - Adaborna,Eric, PY - 2015/10/30/entrez PY - 2015/10/30/pubmed PY - 2017/1/10/medline KW - Coliform KW - Contamination KW - Ghana KW - Health risk KW - Peri-urban KW - Vegetable farming SP - 392 EP - 7 JF - Journal of community health JO - J Community Health VL - 41 IS - 2 N2 - Peri-urban vegetable farming in Ghana is an important livelihood activity for an increasing number of people. However, increasing quality and public health concerns have been raised, partly because freshwater availability for irrigation purposes is a major constraint. This paper investigated on-farm vegetable contamination and potential health risks using samples of lettuce, spring onions and cabbage randomly selected from 18 vegetable farms in peri-urban Kumasi, Ghana. Vegetable samples were tested for total coliform, fecal coliform, Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. bacteria contamination using the Most Probable Number method. Results show high contamination levels of total and fecal coliforms, and Escherichia coli bacteria in all 18 vegetable samples. The mean total coliform/100 ml concentration for spring onions, lettuce and cabbage were 9.15 × 10(9), 4.7 × 10(7) and 8.3 × 10(7) respectively. The mean fecal coliform concentration for spring onions, lettuce and cabbage were also 1.5 × 10(8), 4.15 × 10(7) and 2.15 × 10(7) respectively, while the mean Escherichia coli bacteria contamination for spring onions, lettuce and cabbage were 1.4 × 10(8), 2.2 × 10(7) and 3.2 × 10(7) respectively. The level of total coliform, fecal coliform and Escherichia coli bacteria contamination in all the vegetable samples however declined as the distance between the main water source (Wiwi River) and farms increases. Nonetheless, all contamination levels were well above acceptable standards, and could therefore pose serious public health risks to consumers. Increased education and supervision of farmers, as well as public health and food hygiene education of consumers, are critical to reducing on-farm vegetable contamination and the health risks associated with consumption of such vegetables. SN - 1573-3610 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/26512013/Coliform_Contamination_of_Peri_urban_Grown_Vegetables_and_Potential_Public_Health_Risks:_Evidence_from_Kumasi_Ghana_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -