Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) eggs contaminating soils in selected organic and conventional farms in the Philippines

Soils from selected organic and conventional farms in the Philippines were examined for parasite contamination. A total of 600 soil samples from twenty organic and conventional farms were collected and processed through modified sucrose floatation technique. Results revealed that 248 out of 600 (41.33%) soil samples were contaminated with parasite eggs. Parasites recovered were Ascaris spp. (39.0%), Trichuris spp. (26.0%), hookworm/strongylid (22.0%), Toxocara spp. (4.0%), Taenia spp. (3.0%), and some unidentified eggs (6.0%). Contamination rate was found higher in organic (48.30%) than in conventional farms (37.67%) (p = 0.834; not significant); and significantly higher in Southern (64.40%) than in Northern Luzon region (31.40%) (p = 0.015). In addition, contamination rate between soil depths was not statistically significant (p = 0.24), with depth 1 (0-5 cm) at 43% and depth 2 (6-10 cm) at 39.67%. Furthermore, some farming practices were recorded through survey and results revealed that the use of manure as fertilizer (p = 0.017) and wash water (p = 0.014) showed significant positive relationship with parasite contamination in soil. These findings have implications on food safety and could be used to help the agriculture sector and other stakeholders in their efforts to improve food safety policies.