Eficácia de protocolos de sanitização na remoção de parasitas em vegetais: uma revisão sistemática com meta-análise

Abstract

Parasitic contamination in vegetables is a reality in several countries and a challenge for food safety. These products are susceptible to several failures in good practices in production, transport, packaging and preparation, which, added to the consumption of raw vegetables, further increase the risk of ingesting contaminated foods. Considering this, a systematic review was carried out with the objective of scientifically evidencing the efficacy of sanitization protocols in the decontamination of parasites in vegetables. This review was conducted according to the Cochrane Handbook guidelines, being registered in the PROSPERO protocol database (CRD42020206929) and reported according to the PRISMA 2020 statement, following the criteria of transparency, reproducibility and impartiality in the synthesis of evidence. The review evaluated studies published in MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, FSTA, LILACS and AGRIS databases, as well as manual searches of related articles, references, and theses and dissertations directories. Meta-analysis was performed using Revman 5 software and bias assessment used the Robins I Tools with some adaptations. In addition, the quality of the evidence was assessed by GRADE. The review had a total of 31 studies included, most of which were conducted in countries with high incidence of parasites in vegetables, such as Brazil and Iran. Interventions combined with 200ppm chlorination preceded by brushing or detergent immersion showed the highest efficacy in parasite decontamination, low sanitizing costs and an average time of 20 minutes for the procedure. The heterogeneities, imprecisions, and risk of bias of the primary studies implied a lower quality of recommendation. However, this review may inspire the planning of new studies that observe critical and methodological evaluation for research in the area of food safety.