ABSTRACT
Background: Raw [fresh] vegetables are an important ingredient of healthy diet. Many enteric bacterial, parasitic and viral pathogens could be transmitted by vegetables. Mazandaran province is located in northern Iran with a coastal area and extensive fields for vegetable cultivation. The current study is designed to evaluate the parasitic contamination of fresh vegetables
Methods: A total of 150 samples of fresh vegetables obtained from markets were examined for parasitic infections using standard methods
Results: Out of 104 samples [60.3%] were contaminated with parasites. Parsley and radish with prevalence rates of 90% [18/20] and 39.1% [9/23] were the most and least contaminated vegetables. Free living larva and Trichostrongylus were the most and least common parasites in our results
Conclusion: It can be concluded that parasitological contamination of raw vegetables may be a health threat to consumers of such products