Assessment of salmonella spp. And mold-yeast contamination in packaged and unpackaged spices

Abstract

In this study packaged (n=15) and unpackaged (n=15) spices including black pepper, oregano, peppermint, red pepper, cinnamon were collected and analyzed microbio-logically. Mold-yeast contents of packaged samples were 1.07×104 cfu/g in red pep-per, 1.75×104 cfu/g in black pepper, 7.72×104 cfu/g in peppermint, 8.21×103 cfu/g in cinnamon, 4.37×104 cfu/g in oregano, whereas unpackaged samples were 7.82×103 cfu/g in red pepper, 7.62×103 cfu/g in black pepper, 4.35×104 cfu/g in peppermint, 5.54×103 cfu/g in cinnamon, 4.21×104 cfu/g in oregano. Salmonella spp. was not found in any of the samples. When comparing the mold-yeast content of packaged and unpackaged samples, the difference in the level of contamination between the two groups did not show statistical significance (p>0.01). Mold-yeast results of un-packaged red pepper, black pepper, peppermint, oregano, and packaged peppermint and oregano were above the maximum limits of Turkish Food Codex (TFC). Therefore, controlling mold and yeast content at the selling point is recommended.