Insights on the prevalence of phyllo-epiphytic and endophytic pathogens on leafy vegetables from farms and retails in South Africa: A review

Abstract

Leafy vegetables are a highly variable group of perishable food that broadly can be defined as vegetables grown for their edible leaves. This study was conducted to investigate the safety of commodities grown at farms and those sold in various retails globally, cascading to South Africa, and to determine the identification and characterization of the microbiota. Therefore, the authors conducted a desktop and literature review using popular trusted search engines with special keywords. For this study, the authors-maintained research material from 2010-2024, constituting research articles, reviews, book chapters, thesis, research short communications, and industrial short communications. From this study, it could be deduced that leafy green commodities differ from intact vegetables with regard to their physiology, handling, processing, and storage. In addition, various agronomic activities were identified as contributing to the contamination of leafy greens at various stages of minimal processing, including distribution. More studies have shown that various types of microorganisms are found in leafy vegetables purchased at small-scale farms and retail stores. Concerning that, characterise those that are pathogenic to human health and those that are beneficial and how to treat through antibiotics the diseases caused by those that are pathogenic to our health. Furthermore, the findings of this study revealed that some opportunistic pathogen communities in fresh leafy vegetables are diverse and can pose a health risk to consumers, leading to death. Finally, food safety and security remain a global challenge, and stunting continues to affect the majority of developing countries. Thus, future studies should focus on improving food safety management systems reducing food poisoning, recall incidents and outbreaks by controlling critical points and food security in primary horticulture production environments even at retail and determining which antimicrobials will inhibit the growth of specific bacteria causing a certain infection.