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International Journal of Food Science and Agriculture

ISSN Print: 2578-3467 Downloads: 207653 Total View: 2912408
Frequency: quarterly ISSN Online: 2578-3475 CODEN: IJFSJ3
Email: ijfsa@hillpublisher.com
Article Open Access http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijfsa.2021.12.018

Fungal Contaminants of Spices Used in Tunisia

R. Saidi1,4,*, A. Gritli2, M. Ben Rhaiem1,4, I. Mnejja1, B. Jemli3

1Military Laboratory of Food Analysis, General Directorate of Military Health, 2001 Tunis, Tunisia.

2Military Center for Veterinary Medicine, General Directorate of Military Health, 2001 Tunis, Tunisia.

3Laboratory of Parasitology-Mycology, Military Hospital of Tunis, 1008, Monfleury, Tunis, Tunisia.

4Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, University of Carthage, 7021 Bizerte, Tunisia.

*Corresponding author: R. Saidi

Published: December 8,2021

Abstract

Spices are used extensively not only to flavor foods but also for their medicinal properties. To date, no data are available regarding the nature of the toxigenic fungal species that may contaminate these products marketed in Tunisia. The aim of this study was to investigate the natural occurrence of fungi in commonly consumed spices collected from different military catering. A total of 213 samples representing five kinds of spices (Curcuma, red pepper, coriander, caraway and cumin) were tested for the total fungal count following a standardized dilution method. Fungal isolates were identified according to morphological and microscopic characteristics. Fungal contamination showed a large variation, about 88 % of total spices samples were infected with fungi. The highest level of contamination (≥ 5 log10 CFU/g) was observed in red pepper and caraway samples. Three fungal genera were identified: Aspergillus spp (36.1%), Mucor spp (28.2%) and Penicillium spp (1%). Aspergillus genus was present in 50% of curcuma samples and 48% of coriander samples while it was too low in cumin samples with 16.6%. A total of 95 strains of five Aspergillus species were identified with the dominance of Aspergillus niger (61%) and Aspergillus flavus (30%). Aspergillus niger were present in all spices kinds while Aspergillus flavus prevalence was 32% in curcuma samples, 12% in coriander samples, 10% in red pepper samples and less present in cumin and caraway samples (0.5%).

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How to cite this paper

Fungal Contaminants of Spices Used in Tunisia

How to cite this paper: R. Saidi, A. Gritli, M. Ben Rhaiem, I. Mnejja, B. Jemli. (2021) Fungal Contaminants of Spices Used in TunisiaInternational Journal of Food Science and Agriculture5(4), 698-703.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijfsa.2021.12.018