title: Salmonella prevalence and total microbial and spore populations in spices imported to Japan.
abstract: A total of 259 samples of 40 types of spices were tested for Salmonella prevalence and total microbial and spore populations. Salmonella enterica serotypes Weltevreden and Senftenberg were isolated from a black- and red-pepper sample, respectively. Because Salmonella was not detected by the most-probable-number method, it indicated that at least one cell of the microorganism was present in 25 g of sample. The mean aerobic bacterial count was greater than 5.39 log CFU/g in turmeric, garam masala, curry powder, and paprika. The mean bacterial spore counts were greater than 4.33 log CFU/g in turmeric and curry powder. The mean aerobic bacterial count in the two Salmonella-isolated samples was 6.93 log CFU/g. These results indicate that spices can be a source of contamination in the products where they are used as ingredients, and methods to reduce the microbial load in spices should be used.
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbiology, National Institute of Health Sciences, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 158-8501, Japan. ykudo@nihs.go.jp
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hara-Kudo
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Ohtsuka
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Onoue
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Otomo
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamaji
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Segawa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takatori
mesh_terms: D001420:Bacteria, Aerobic / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D010802:Phylogeny; D012475:Salmonella / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D017365:Spices / Q000382:microbiology*; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification