Microbiology of spices and herbs

Microbiology of retail mung bean sprouts vended in public markets of National Capital Region, Philippines

“…An enclosed and clean sprout production area can provide protection to the produce from possible microbiological contaminants carried by dust, irrigation water and animal and human excreta (Banerjee & Sarkar, 2003;De Boer et al, 1985). All sprout production areas observed in this study were only semi-enclosed, usually with incomplete rooWng.…”

“…The Commonwealth ScientiWc and Industrial Research Organization and the Australian Food Industry Science Center (CSIRO-AFISC, 2000) reported that contaminated seeds have Table 1 Common production and vending practices of mung bean sprout producers (n D 10) and retailers (n D 50) in NCR, Philippines a Based on retail sprouting industry best practices reported by CFP (2004) almost always been the cause of sprout-related outbreaks. Seeds are harvested from agricultural environments where produce are exposed to microbiological contaminations, and thus should be evaluated if suitable for human consumption or planting purposes (Banerjee & Sarkar, 2003;De Boer, Spiegelenberg, & Janssen, 1985;Montville & SchaVner, 2005). Beuchat and Ryu (1997) enumerated possible sources of contaminations which included the use of manure as fertilizer, fecally contaminated irrigation water, birds, insects, animals, unclean harvesting equipment and transportation vessels.…”

Growth and enterotoxin production by sporeforming bacterial pathogens from spices

“…Spices and herbs containing Cl. perfringens, even in low numbers (<10 2 cfu g À1 ), may play an important role in contributing to the microbial load of prepared foods (De Boer, Spiegelenberg, & Janssen, 1985). Although foods related to food poisoning outbreaks caused by Cl.…”

Assessment of spore contamination in pepper by determination of dipicolinic acid with a highly sensitive HPLC approach

“…After pasteurisation of the samples, aerobic spore formers were found to represent between 50% and 95% of total plate counts of bacteria. Total spore counts of more than 10 7 CFU per gram of black and white pepper were also reported by de Boer, Spiegelenberg, and Janssen (1985). High numbers of endospores in spices are a potential hazard even for cooked food since spores might be able to survive the cooking process, may germinate and result in food poisoning or spoilage of the spiced product.…”