Kim Chyer, Goodwyn Brian, Albukhaytan Sakinah, Nartea Theresa, Ndegwa Eunice, Dhakal Ramesh
Agricultural Research Station, Virginia State University, 1 Hayden Drive, Petersburg, VA 23806, USA.
Department of Agriculture, Food, and Resource Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853, USA.
Pathogens. 2023 Jul 23;12(7):965. doi: 10.3390/pathogens12070965.
In food desert areas, low-income households without convenient transportation often shop at small, independently owned corner markets and convenience stores (SIOMs). Studies indicate a higher potential for reduced product quality and safety of foods sold at SIOMs, with more critical and non-critical code violations in the region. This study aimed to assess the difference in market scale on the microbiological quality in select food products procured from food deserts in Central Virginia. A total of 326 samples consisting of meat products (i.e., ground beef, chicken, and sausage), ethnic food products (i.e., ox tail, stock fish bite, egusi ground, and saffron powder), and food packaging surfaces procured from ten registered SIOMs and nine large chain supermarkets (LCSMs) between August 2018 and March 2020 were evaluated. Higher levels of aerobic mesophile and coliform counts were found in SIOMs-acquired samples than in LCSMs-acquired samples, as demonstrated by the lower food safety compliance rate of SIOMs. Regardless of SIOMs or LCSMs, , , , and were detected in 3.6%, 20.9%, 5.5%, and 2.7% of samples, respectively. The majorities of (75%, 6/8) and (83.3%, 5/6) detected were from SIOMs-acquired samples including ethnic food products. Among the tested antimicrobials, AMP (100%) and TOB (100%) showed the highest frequency of resistance among , TCY (69.9%) among , NAL (100%) among , and TCY (50%) among , respectively. The prevalence of multi-drug resistance (MDR) and non-susceptibility in and non-susceptibility in isolated from SIOMs-acquired food products were lower than those isolated from LCSMs-acquired samples. A higher price of the same brand name commodity sold at SIOMs than those sold at LCSMs was also observed, indicating an increased financial burden to economically challenged residents in food desert areas, in addition to food safety concerns. Elaborated and in-depth research on a larger-scale sample size with a greater diversity of products is needed to determine and intervene in the cause(s) of the observed differences in the prevalence of the pathogens and AMR profiles.
在食品荒漠地区，交通不便的低收入家庭通常在小型独立经营的街角市场和便利店（SIOMs）购物。研究表明，SIOMs销售的食品质量和安全性下降的可能性更高，该地区存在更多严重和非严重的违规行为。本研究旨在评估弗吉尼亚州中部食品荒漠地区采购的特定食品中，市场规模对微生物质量的影响。2018年8月至2020年3月期间，从10家注册的SIOMs和9家大型连锁超市（LCSMs）采集了共326个样本，包括肉类产品（即碎牛肉、鸡肉和香肠）、民族食品（即牛尾、鳕鱼块、磨碎的埃古西瓜和藏红花粉）以及食品包装表面。SIOMs采购的样本中需氧嗜温菌和大肠菌群计数水平高于LCSMs采购的样本，SIOMs较低的食品安全合规率证明了这一点。无论SIOMs还是LCSMs，在3.6%、20.9%、5.5%和2.7%的样本中分别检测到了[具体物质1]、[具体物质2]、[具体物质3]和[具体物质4]。检测到的大多数[具体物质1]（75%，6/8）和[具体物质2]（83.3%，5/6）来自SIOMs采购的样本，包括民族食品。在所测试的抗菌药物中，[具体细菌1]中AMP（100%）和TOB（100%）耐药频率最高，[具体细菌2]中TCY（69.9%）最高，[具体细菌3]中NAL（100%）最高，[具体细菌4]中TCY（50%）最高。从SIOMs采购的食品中分离出的[具体细菌1]中的多重耐药（MDR）和不敏感率以及[具体细菌其他情况]中的不敏感率低于从LCSMs采购的样本。还观察到SIOMs销售的同一品牌商品价格高于LCSMs，这表明除了食品安全问题外，食品荒漠地区经济困难的居民经济负担加重。需要对更大规模样本量和更多样化产品进行详细深入的研究，以确定并干预观察到的病原体流行率和抗菌药物耐药性谱差异的原因。
