Microbial Contamination of Herbal Preparations on the Ghanaian Market, Accra

Abstract

In developing countries, an estimated 80% of the population use traditional herbal medicines as part of their primary health care. As the market for herbal medicine expands in many African countries, partly due to their use in the treatment of COVID-19, there is the need to address all the associated safety issues. The aim of the study was to evaluate the microbial contamination of locally prepared, as well as imported foreign herbal products sold in Accra. Standard microbiological methods were employed in the enumeration of coliforms and the identification of pathogenic microbes in 60 herbal preparations that were sampled. A larger proportion (76.7%) of local herbal preparations was contaminated with bacteria as compared with imported ones (63.3%). Bacillus species and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the predominant bacteria obtained from foreign and locally manufactured herbal preparations, respectively. A proportion of 36.7% (11) of the local samples were positive for coliform and the coliform counts ranged from 3.0 × 101 cfu/ml to 2.0 × 104 cfu/ml. Two foreign herbal samples (6.7%) were positive for coliforms; one had a count of 1.7 × 105 cfu/g while the other had 2 × 104 cfu/g. Herbal preparations sold in markets of Accra harbour several microbial pathogens; the risk is relatively higher for locally produced herbal preparations compared to imported herbal preparations. As a result, it is recommended that quality assurance in the production of local herbal preparations should be thoroughly monitored from the beginning of production to the final selling of the preparations. There is also the need to strengthen microbiological safety monitoring of imported herbal preparations.

Herbal Medicine Practice in Kenya: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Way Forward

“…The lack of awareness and implementation of good agricultural practices and subsequent harvesting, processing and packaging renders herbal products particularly prone to microbial contamination. Diarrhea and accompanying stomach ailments are among the most common manifestations of microbial contaminations of oral herbal products (Darkwah et al, 2022). To rule out such incidences, routine microbial load determination involving the commonest bacterial and fungi associated with food contamination should be performed.…”

Contamination of herbal medicinal products in low-and-middle-income countries: A systematic review

“…Evidence from African and Asian LMICs such as Ghana [ 167 ], Tanzania [ 21 ], and India [ 168 ] attribute microbial contamination of HMPs to pollution in the chain of production, from harvested raw materials used in the preparation, handling, processing, storage, and transportation. Other factors such as the use of untreated water supply, poor quality of packaging materials, use of contaminated containers, working from polluted fecal environments, or poor personal hygiene behaviors during handling have been reported as potential sources of microbial contamination of HMPs from these settings [ 21 , 167 , 168 ]. Poor microbial quality of HMPs implies that they may serve as routes for transmitting pathogenic microbial agents [ 169 ].…”

“…Specifically, toxins produced by Bacillus cereus have also been reported to cause toxigenic diarrhea when ingested in contaminated HMPs in African LMICs [ 77 ]. Different Staphylococcal species have been previously reported to contaminate HMPs circulating in many LIMCs, including Ghana [ 167 ], Tanzania [ 21 ], Nigeria [ 173 ], and India [ 168 ]. Their presence is highly related to using unhygienic equipment and poor personal hygiene practices in handling HMPs [ 173 ].…”

“…Staphylococcus aureus , for example, is an important cause of food-borne intoxication following ingestion of its preformed heat-resistant enterotoxins that results in severe gastroenteritis, in addition to the toxic shock and staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome outcomes [ 183 , 184 ]. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae contaminant presence, on the other hand, suggest improper washing and handling of raw materials used in preparing HMPs, and both have been implicated in causing urinary tract and severe respiratory diseases when ingested [ 167 , 185 ].…”

MICROBIAL CONTAMINATION OF SOME UNREGISTERED HERBAL MEDICINAL PRODUCTS (HMPs) SOLD IN Kaduna Metropolis.

“…Nonetheless, enhancing product purity and safety entails observing basic hygiene during preparation and standardizing physical characteristics such as moisture content, pH, and levels of microbial contamination. Previous studies have identified potential contaminants in herbal preparations, with microbial contamination potentially leading to food poisoning, infections, allergic reactions, and toxicity, occasionally resulting in fatalities (Darkwah et al, 2022). Pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella species, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and various Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains represent serious health hazards (Adeleye et al, 2005;Okunlola et al, 2007;Al Kahtani, 2017).…”