Occurrence and characterization of Aeromonas hydrophila and Yersinia enterocolitica in minimally processed fresh vegetable salads

A range of commercially available minimally processed ready to eat salads was examined for the presence of Aeromonas and Yersinia, to provide information about their occurrence and characterize them by some phenotypic criteria. The SDS–PAGE of whole-cell proteins was also applied as a taxonomic tool for the rapid and effective identification of Aeromonas hydrophila and Yersinia enterocolitica found among a number of Aeromonas and Yersinia isolates. Aeromonas isolates were obtained from 61.5% of the samples and more than 80% of them were characterized as A. hydrophila. Two isolates were classified by both phenotypic criteria and the SDS–PAGE of whole-cell proteins as Y. enterocolitica. These results therefore suggest the prevalence of A. hydrophila isolates and the low occurrence of Y. enterocolitica in the minimally processed salads.