Table 1.

Common contaminants of fruits and vegetables.

Microbial Contaminants (Bacterial/Viral/Fungal)	Relevance	Food Safety/Shelf Life-Based Concerns	Reference
Salmonella spp. (serovar Typhimurium, Montevideo, Javiana, Anatum, Enteritidis, Infantis, Stanley, Newport)	Foodborne pathogen resulting in self-limiting gastroenteritis in humans. Multidrug resistance is well known	Has been reported as a common cause of food poisoning in many countries; fresh produce can be contaminated anytime from harvest to packaging	[7,8]
E. coli O157:H7	Foodborne pathogen resulting in haemorrhagic colitis, bloody diarrhoea hemolytic uremic syndrome and death	Cross-contamination from meat during the preparation of ready-to-eat (RTE) products has been reported. Multiplication and growth of E. coli on fresh produce are reported at 12–25 °C	[9,10]
Campylobacter jejuni	A foodborne pathogen that causes gastroenteritis	Outbreaks associated with fresh salads have been reported. Although cross-contamination has been reported as one of the causes, many sources of contamination remain unidentified	[11,12]
Listeria monocytogenes	Food poisoning resulting in mild gastroenteritis to severe blood and/or central nervous system infections with limited reports on abortion in pregnant women	L. monocytogenes is a contaminant of fresh produce and can also be prevalent in RTE and minimally processed meals	[13]
Aeromonas spp.	Food poisoning leading to gastroenteritis	Due to their ubiquitous nature, they contaminate the vegetables and fruits via fresh and salt water, either during harvest or post-harvest handling	[14]
Pseudomonas spp.	Opportunistic pathogens are known to be capable of producing pathogenicity factors (toxins, effector proteins, proteases, elastases and pigments) that might affect the immune system. Otherwise associated with spoilage	Mishandling during harvest or post-harvest leads to cross-contamination from Pseudomonas coming from the soil, fertilizers, manure or water used for irrigation	[15]
Hepatitis A virus	The causative agent of hepatitis A leads to mild to moderate symptoms and fatality in some cases. Additionally known to cause frequent endemics in developing countries	Fruits and vegetables can be cross-contaminated if irrigated with water/solutions that contain faecal remains.	[16]
Norovirus	Associated with foodborne outbreaks and usually referred to as stomach flu. It leads to diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain	Usually, cross-contamination during handling and packaging and also due to exposure to faecal cross-contaminants.	[17]
Mycotoxins: Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp. and Alternaria spp.	Associated with food poisoning and spoilage and significant loss of the harvest products	Post-harvest contamination by Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp. and Alternaria spp. causes toxin production as part of their secondary metabolites and in some cases leads to spoilage such as citrus brown spots by Alternaria alternata.	[18]