Academic Journal
Socioecological Factors Interact to Drive Differences in Hygiene Indicator Load on Retail Fresh Produce Available to Athens, GA Communities.
| Title: | Socioecological Factors Interact to Drive Differences in Hygiene Indicator Load on Retail Fresh Produce Available to Athens, GA Communities. |
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| Authors: | Cullinan S; Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, United States. Electronic address: Sitara.Cullinan@uga.edu., Mahida M; Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, United States. Electronic address: Mallika.Mahida@uga.edu., Bastos LM; Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, United States. Electronic address: lmbastos@uga.edu., Borders JL; Athens Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, United States. Electronic address: jlb31024@uga.edu., Maboni G; Athens Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, United States; Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, United States. Electronic address: grazim@uga.edu., Minaya DM; Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, United States. Electronic address: Dulce.MinayaCaba@uga.edu., Schwan CL; Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, United States. Electronic address: Carla.Schwan@uga.edu. |
| Source: | Journal of food protection [J Food Prot] 2026 Aug; Vol. 89 (8), pp. 100848. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jun 29. |
| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Journal Info: | Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 7703944 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1944-9097 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 0362028X NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Food Prot Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: 2023- : [New York, NY] : Elsevier Original Publication: Ames, Iowa, International Association of Milk, Food, and Environmental Sanitarians. |
| MeSH Terms: | Food Contamination*/analysis, Salmonella enterica/isolation & purification ; Escherichia coli/isolation & purification ; Food Microbiology ; Colony Count, Microbial ; Hygiene ; Seasons ; Greece ; Humans ; Consumer Product Safety ; Vegetables |
| Abstract: | Food safety at neighborhood stores may differ for communities of distinct socioeconomic strata, but such differences are underexplored. We aimed to characterize microbial contamination (MC) on fresh produce available to Athens, GA communities (k = 2) of diverse socioeconomic composition. MC was assessed as a function of the main effects of season, store type, and community, and their 2- and 3-way interactions. Cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes (144 each) from groceries, supermarkets, and superstores - collected over winter and summer from each community - were tested for generic Escherichia coli, coliforms, and Salmonella enterica using culture-based methods. Presumptive S. enterica colonies (n = 338) were identified with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. No S. enterica was detected, and predominant off-target genera showed trends per the isolation media used. Generic E. coli load was below the countable range for all samples. Mean coliform load (MCL) variation on cucumbers was driven by the interaction of community and store type (P < 0.01) and that of season and store type (P < 0.01). Higher resource community (HR) grocery cucumbers had greater MCL, 4.00 log CFU/g, than superstore cucumbers, 3.07 log CFU/g. Lower resource community superstore cucumbers had greater MCL, 3.04 log CFU/g, than grocery cucumbers, 2.05 log CFU/g. Superstore cucumbers had greater MCL, 3.46 log CFU/g, than grocery cucumbers, 2.45 log CFU/g in summer. In winter, superstore cucumbers had lower MCL, 2.66 log CFU/g, than grocery cucumbers, 3.60 log CFU/g. MCL variation on lettuce was driven by the interaction of community and store type (P < 0.01). MCL on lettuce from HR groceries and superstores, 1.86 log CFU/g and 1.42 log CFU/g, respectively, was greater relative to supermarkets, 0.96 log CFU/g. These findings show that season, the built food environment, and community context interact to drive coliform load differences on retail produce available to Athens communities. (Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Food environments; Fresh produce safety; Hygiene indicators; Salmonella enterica; Social determinants of health |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260629 Date Completed: 20260717 Latest Revision: 20260717 |
| Update Code: | 20260717 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jfp.2026.100848 |
| PMID: | 42373078 |
| Database: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1944-9097 |
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| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jfp.2026.100848 |