The prevalence of helminth eggs in raw vegetables from street markets in Eskişehir, Türkiye

Abstract

This research was performed on a total of 120 vegetables, with 12 samples taken from each available Eskişehir district markets. In this study, we aimed to determine the presence of contamination from helminth eggs in 10 types of vegetables: carrot, lettuce, parsley, arugula, cress, fresh onion, mint, cucumber, dill, and purslane. 200 g of material from each collected sample was prepared for the helminthological examination. The prepared samples were examined for helminth eggs with a light microscope that could be identified at 40x magnification. The data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software. Helminth eggs were detected in 20 (16.6%) vegetable samples. According to the research, the highest rate of helminth eggs was observed in spring onion (66.6%), while the lowest rate was found in mint (16.6%) and purslane (16.6%). Ascaris lumbricoides eggs were found in 11 (9.1%) of the samples, and strongyle type eggs in 9 (7.5%). In this study, we observed that infectious forms of parasites can contaminate many foods and potentially infect people after consumption if these foods are not washed well. The aim of this study was to assess the presence of helminth eggs in raw vegetables, which are commonly consumed produce sold in street markets in Eskişehir, Türkiye.