Organic vegetables: healthy foods or a health risk?

Abstract

The absence of agrochemicals and synthetic fertilizers characterize the vegetables as organic. However, the way these vegetables are cultivated using bovine manure as organic fertilizer increases the likelihood that these vegetables will become routes of transmission to humans of enteroparasitoses. In this context, the objective of this work was to detect the occurrence of parasitic structures in organic vegetables sold in a free market in the city of Crato (CE). The study was carried out with organic vegetables from the agroecological fair Associação Cristã de Base – ACB. A sample of each vegetable (coriander, chives, and lettuce) was collected per stall (eight stalls, in total), processed using the Lutz or Hoffmann, Pons and Janer technique or spontaneous sedimentation technique with adaptations for parasitological study in vegetables. Three slides were prepared from each sample and analyzed under an optical microscope on 10X and 40X objective. In total organic vegetable samples analyzed, 31.40% were contaminated by the following parasitic structures: cysts of Giardia duodenalis, Balantidium coli, Entamoeba histolytica, Entamoeba coli, Iodamoeba butschlii, Endolimax nana; Eggs of hookworm, Taenia sp., Hymenolepis diminuta; Larvae of hookworm and Strongyloides stercoralis. Coriander was the most contaminated vegetable and S. stercoralis was the most frequent parasite in the vegetable samples, therefore, the helminths prevailed. The contamination presented in this study suggests inadequate forms of cultivation, hygiene and handling. Thus, the vegetables in desagree with the current food safety standards are inadequate for consumption. There is a need for effective campaigns to encourage food hygiene, even organic ones, which are said to be “healthy”, but which may be the transmission routes for parasitic enteroparasitosis.