Contamination of vegetables with helminth parasites of zoonotic importance

Vegetables are an important source of nourishment, but raw and minimally processed vegetables readily get contaminated with helminth parasites throughout the process of planting to consumption. Vegetable samples were collected from the selected study areas viz; three village fields, three local markets and two supermarkets during the last one year in different seasons and were processed for extraction of helminthic parasites (eggs/larvae). Incidence of helminthic parasites was found to be highest during rainy season (55.76%) followed by winter (47.92%) and summer (18.18%), irrespective of site of collection. Vegetable samples collected from local markets showed maximum contamination (40.28–83.33%) during all the seasons in comparison to field crops (0–56.94%) and vegetables collected from supermarkets (2.08–16.67%). Leafy vegetables were found to be highly contaminated (64.58–87.50%, except cabbage) with parasitic helminths followed by root vegetables (45.83–55.55%) and fruit vegetables (12.50–43.75%). The present study showed the helminthic contamination of vegetables in fields as well as being sold in the local markets of Ludhiana.