en Food Safety and Hygiene Food Safety and Hygiene پژوهشي Original Article <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><strong>Background;</strong> Complex surface of vegetables facilitate attachment and transmission of several pathogens. No previous study has been conducted in survey of parasitic contamination of vegetables in Zanjan. This study aimed to detect the parasitic contamination in common raw vegetables in Zanjan markets.<br> <strong>Methods;</strong>A total of 352 raw vegetable samples, including leek, parsley, basil, mint, radish, cress and dill were collected from grocery stores using cluster sampling in different regions of the city during 2014. The edible parts of vegetables were separated and immersed in normal saline solution. Floating vegetables were removed and the solution was allowed to sediment at room temperature for 24 hours. The pellet was examined following sedimentation and floatation methods.</span></span><br> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><strong>Results; </strong>Various Organisms were detected in 54% (190) of the 352 samples, but only 2.8% of samples had pathogenic parasites including; <em>Trichostrongylus</em> eggs (3), Hookworm eggs (2), <em>Eimeria</em> oocysts (2), <em>Sarcocystis</em> oocyst (1), <em>Strongyloides</em> larvae (1), and <em>Fasciola</em> eggs (1). The contamination rate of vegetables was highest (90.4%) in the fall (<em>p</em>˂0.05).</span></span><br> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><strong>Conclusion; </strong>Vegetable contamination with parasitic organisms in this area was&nbsp; low, maybe due to irrigation of vegetables with sources other than sewage water, but it is still necessary to improve sanitary conditions of vegetables.</span></span></p> Parasitic contamination, Vegetables, Iran 196 201 http://jhehp.zums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-77-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Ali Haniloo hani@zums.ac.ir 10031947532846009348 10031947532846009348 No Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Medical School, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Sommayeh Taheri sommayeh_taheri@yahoo.com 10031947532846009349 10031947532846009349 No Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Medical School, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Negin Torabi n_torabi@razi.tums.ac.ir 10031947532846009350 10031947532846009350 Yes Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Medical School, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.