UNASSIGNED: Raw vegetables have been considered vehicles of enteroparasites. South American countries are among the most important exporters of fresh vegetables, including Ecuador, which has a tropical climate and soils rich in organic matter that allow it to harvest throughout the year for sale to different countries. The aim of the study was to assess the occurrence of the parasitic contamination of fruits, vegetables and leafy greens grown in an agricultural area of the Ecuadorian Andes.
UNASSIGNED: A cross-sectional field study was conducted with snowball sampling on 1,416 samples (516 fruits, 488 vegetables, and 412 leafy greens). Each sample were washed with water, and the resulting solution after removing the vegetables, was subjected to 24-hour sedimentation. The concentrated sediment underwent microscopic analysis.
UNASSIGNED: The overall positivity for parasitic contamination was 63.4%, with leafy greens having the highest contamination rate (76.9%) (P<0.0001), surpassing vegetables (67.8%) and fruits (48.4%). Cabbage (100%), onions (84%), and strawberries (60.2%) emerged as the most contaminated within their respective groups. Protozoa were more prevalent (49.6%) than helminths (15.5%) (P<0.0001). Blastocystis sp. (33.5%) ranked highest, followed by Eimeria spp. (26.3%), Entamoeba spp. (10.3%), Giardia spp. (8.3%), Balantidium spp. (6.9%), Cryptosporidium spp. (6.6%), Cyclospora spp. (4.4%), Cystoisospora spp. (0.5%), Strongylida (15.5%), and Ascaris spp. (0.4%).
UNASSIGNED: The study reveals that vegetables and fruits for human consumption from this area of the Ecuadorian Andes are highly contaminated with various parasites, constituting a possible source of infection for humans and animals in this area, or in non-endemic areas where these products are marketed. The finding emphasizes the need for strict hygienic measures in agricultural crops, which will be properly achieved through the treatment of soil, manure and water used for cultivation.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the presence of T. gondii, Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts, and G. duodenalis cysts, in three leafy greens (coriander, lettuce, and parsley) commonly consumed raw. Despite the recognition of the association between the parasitic illnesses and the consumption of contaminated food, there is still a lack of studies investigating the occurrence of parasitic contamination in food matrices.
METHODS: A total of 152 leafy green samples were collected in Marrakech from April 2018 to October 2019. Parasites were eluted and concentrated before detection of their DNA by real-time qPCR.
RESULTS: The analysis revealed an overall rate of contamination of 32.2% (49/152), with 29.6% (45/152) positive for T. gondii and 2.6% (4/152) for G. duodenalis, while none was positive for Cryptosporidium spp.
CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that humans can be exposed to protozoan parasites through vegetables consumption. Further investigations can be performed to acquire new epidemiological data to assess the public health impact of these protozoan diseases in Morocco.

Homestead food production (HFP) programmes improve the availability of vegetables by providing training in growing nutrient-dense crops. In rural Tanzania, most foods consumed are carbohydrate-rich staples with low micronutrient concentrations. This cluster-randomized controlled trial investigated whether women growing home gardens have higher dietary diversity, household food security or probability of consuming nutrient-rich food groups than women in a control group. We enrolled 1,006 women of reproductive age in 10 villages in Pwani Region in eastern Tanzania, split between intervention (INT) and control (CON) groups. INT received (a) agricultural training and inputs to promote HFP and dietary diversity and (b) nutrition and public health counselling from agricultural extension workers and community health workers. CON received standard services provided by agriculture and health workers. Results were analysed using linear regression models with propensity weighting adjusting for individual-level confounders and differential loss to follow up. Women in INT consumed 0.50 (95% CI [0.20, 0.80], p = 0.001) more food groups per day than women in CON. Women in INT were also 14 percentage points (95% CI [6, 22], p = 0.001) more likely to consume at least five food groups per day, and INT households were 6 percentage points (95% CI [-13, 0], p = 0.059) less likely to experience moderate-to-severe food insecurity compared with CON. This home gardening intervention had positive effects on diet quality and food security after 1 year. Future research should explore whether impact is sustained over time as well as the effects of home garden interventions on additional measures of nutritional status.

Wildlife intrusion has been associated with pathogen contamination of produce. However, few studies have examined pathogen transfer from wildlife feces to pre-harvest produce. This study was performed to calculate transfer coefficients for Escherichia coli from simulated wildlife feces to field-grown lettuce during irrigation. Rabbit feces inoculated with a 3-strain cocktail of non-pathogenic E. coli were placed in a lettuce field 2.5-72 h before irrigation. Following irrigation, the E. coli concentration on the lettuce was determined. After exclusion of an outlier with high E. coli levels (Most Probable Number = 5.94*108), the average percent of E. coli in the feces that transferred to intact lettuce heads was 0.0267% (Standard Error [SE] = 0.0172). Log-linear regression showed that significantly more E. coli transferred to outer leaves compared to inner leaves (Effect = 1.3; 95% Confidence Interval = 0.4, 2.1). Additionally, the percent of E. coli that transferred from the feces to the lettuce decreased significantly with time after fecal placement, and as the distance between the lettuce and the feces, and the lettuce and the sprinklers increased. These findings provide key data that may be used in future quantitative risk assessments to identify potential intervention strategies for reducing food safety risks associated with fresh produce.