Table 2.
Reports documenting the presence of Toxoplasma gondii on fresh produce.
| Country (reference) | Produce type | Oocyst recovery method | Detection method (gene target) | Sample size and prevalence | Sequence confirmation | Molecular characterization (method) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia (Al-Megrin, 2010) |
Leafy vegetables | Wash, passive | Microscopy |
N = 470 6.6% |
No | |
| Poland (Lass et al., 2012) |
Radish, carrots, lettuce | Flocculation | qPCR (B1, nested PCR SAG2) |
N = 216 9.7% |
No | Types I and II (RFLP) |
| Pakistan (Shafa-ul-Haq et al., 2014) |
Market vegetables | Wash – sedimentation or flotation | Microscopy |
N = 500 1.9% |
No | |
| Canada (Lalonde and Gajadhar, 2016) |
Retail leafy greens | Wash, orbital shaking | qPCR - melting curve analysis (18S rDNA) |
N = 1171 0.26% |
Yes (98–99% identity) | |
| Brazil (Marchioro et al., 2016) |
Leafy greens | Wash, manual | PCR (B1, 529 bp RE) |
N = 238 3.8% |
No | |
| Italy (Caradonna et al., 2017) |
RTE salads | Wash, orbital shaking | Microscopy; qPCR - melting curve analysis (B1) |
N = 648 0.8% |
Yes | Type I (Sequencing) |
| Brazil (Ferreira et al., 2018) |
Organic leafy greens | Wash, manual | PCR (529 bp RE) |
N = 83 9.5% |
Attempted, not successful |