• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.534-541
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• 2019

his study assessed microbial contamination of leeks and leek-cultivated soil. Leeks and leek-cultivated soil were collected in A and B regions and accounted for 39 and 33 samples, respectively. All of the samples were analyzed for the presence of sanitary indicator bacteria (total aerobic bacteria, coliforms and Escherichia coli), Salmonella spp., E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and Bacillus cereus. In A and B region, the total aerobic bacteria was in the range of 5.87-8.78 log CFU/g for leeks and 5.94-8.45 log CFU/g for leek-cultivated soil. The coliform in leeks and leek-cultivated soil was in the range of 1.20-7.36 log CFU/g and 2.45-5.87 log CFU/g, respectively. B. cereus was detected from some of the samples while other pathogens were not detected. This study provides important background information on the microbiological safety of fresh vegetable cultivation environments.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.260-267
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• 2015

BACKGROUND: The current study was conducted to examine the species specific accumulation of Cd and Pb in 11 crop species (Soybean, Sesame, Corn, Polished rice, Carrot, Potato, Garlic, Spring onion, Chinese leek, Red pepper, Eggplant), through cultivating them under the same condition with metal contaminated soils.METHODS AND RESULTS: Eleven crop species were cultivated in three different soils contaminated with Cd and Pb and harvested. Edible parts of each crop was pretreated and analyzed to determine Cd and Pb concentrations, and subsequently bioconcentration factors (BCFs) were calculated. In general, the crops of which seeds are used as food showed high concentrations of both Cd and Pb. For instance, Cd concentrations in crops cultivated in Soil A was in the order of soybean (0.432 mg kg^-1) > sesame (0.385) > polished rice (0.176) > carrot (0.116) > corn (0.060) > red pepper > (0.047) > potato (0.044) > egg plant (0.025) > garlic (0.023) > spring onion (0.016) > Chinese leek (0.011). BCFs showed the same order.CONCLUSION: From this study, it can be conclude that seeds plants should not be cultivated in Cd and Pb contaminated soils to secure food safety from metal contaminated soils.