Papadopoulos Theofilos, Allende Ana, Egea Jose A, Palop Gómez Alfredo, Fernández Escámez Pablo S
Departamento de Ingeniería Agronómica ETSIA-Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena Paseo Alfonso XIII, 48 30203 Cartagena Spain.
Research Group on Microbiology and Quality of Fruit and Vegetables Department of Food Science and Technology CEBAS-CSIC Campus Universitario de Espinardo, 25 30100. 8 Murcia Spain.
EFSA J. 2022 May 25;20(Suppl 1):e200416. doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2022.e200416. eCollection 2022 May.
Water resources are increasingly coming under pressure specially around the Mediterranean area, leading to water scarcity and a deterioration in water quality. The use of treated wastewater represents an alternative source to enhance the demand for irrigation water. Water reuse in combination with the promotion of the use of water-efficient technologies in industry and water-saving irrigation techniques could lead to good qualitative and quantitative water status for surface and ground water bodies. Nevertheless, food-borne outbreaks linked to fresh produce irrigated with partially or untreated wastewater caused by bacteria, parasites and enteropathogenic viruses have been widely reported. In the absence of solid scientific understanding of the actual risks involved, consumers are likely less receptive to buy leafy greens irrigated with treated wastewater, also known as reclaimed water. In this study, we aimed to assess the microbiological risks of leafy green vegetables irrigated with treated wastewater in Spain using Norovirus as a model organism to facilitate the development of risk management strategies. A conceptual exposure model was designed to describe the virus fate and transport from the Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) secondary effluent to the consumers' fork. This study is an example of the use of reclaimed water for irrigation of commercial fields producing leafy greens in the south-east of Spain and tries to assess potential microbiological risks to the consumers by establishing their safety.
水资源正面临越来越大的压力，特别是在地中海地区周边，导致水资源短缺和水质恶化。使用经处理的废水是增加灌溉用水需求的一个替代水源。中水回用，再加上推广工业节水技术和节水灌溉技术，有望使地表水和地下水体在质量和数量上都保持良好状态。然而，与用部分处理或未处理废水灌溉的新鲜农产品相关的食源性疾病暴发，由细菌、寄生虫和肠道致病病毒引起的情况已被广泛报道。由于缺乏对实际风险的扎实科学认识，消费者可能不太愿意购买用经处理废水（也称为再生水）灌溉的绿叶蔬菜。在本研究中，我们旨在以诺如病毒为模式生物，评估西班牙用经处理废水灌溉的绿叶蔬菜的微生物风险，以促进风险管理策略的制定。设计了一个概念性暴露模型，以描述病毒从污水处理厂（WWTP）二级出水到消费者餐盘的归宿和传播过程。本研究是西班牙东南部利用再生水灌溉商业绿叶蔬菜田的一个实例，并试图通过确定其安全性来评估对消费者潜在的微生物风险。
