Progress in Eliminating Bacterial Contamination in Ready-to-Eat Lettuce

As the concept of a balanced diet has been accepted by more and more people, the consumption of vegetables has been on the rise. Lettuce, a popular vegetable around the world, plays an important role in our daily diet. However, lettuce can be contaminated by bacteria during planting, picking, distribution and sale, including pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, Bacillus cereus, and Escherichia coli O157:H7. High concentrations of bacterial contamination have an impact on the shelf life of lettuce. Furthermore, lettuce contamination by pathogenic bacteria can cause food safety incidents. At present, a large number of methods are available to eliminate bacterial contamination in lettuce, including physical cleaning, disinfection using disinfectants, physical sterilization. This paper provides a systematic review of the applications of these bacterial contamination methods and their advantages and disadvantages, which will provide a theoretical reference for follow-up research or application.