Prevalence and PCR Sensitivity Comparison of Toxoplasma gondii, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus in Salads and Appetizers Consumed in Istanbul

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate incidence of Toxoplasma gondii, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus in 100 samples of salad and appetizers (50 salad and 50 appetizer samples) collected from retailers located various districts of Istanbul. While only PCR procedures were used for the analysis of Toxoplasma gondii, conventional microbiological methods and PCR procedures were used for analysis of Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. Also PCR specify and sensitivity for all the positive samples were calculated. According to the results, 9 (9%) samples had Listeria monocytogenes, 36 (36%) samples had Staphylococcus aureus, all the samples were negative for Toxoplasma gondii. It was noted that PCR sensitivity results were quite specific and accurate for both Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. It was concluded that salad and appetizers may seriously threat consumers’ health microbiologically if they are processed under poor hygienic conditions.