Comparative mycological analysis of spices used in meat industry

Vesna Janković; Branka Borović; Branko Velebit; Radmila Mitrović; Brankica Lakićević; Danka Spirić; Tatjana Baltić

Vesna Janković Institute of meat hygiene and technology
Branka Borović Institute of meat hygiene and technology
Branko Velebit Institute of meat hygiene and technology
Radmila Mitrović Institute of meat hygiene and technology
Brankica Lakićević Institute of meat hygiene and technology
Danka Spirić Institute of meat hygiene and technology
Tatjana Baltić Institute of meat hygiene and technology

Keywords: aw, selective medium, xerophilic moulds

Abstract

Spices are often considered as one of the possible sources of meat products contamination with toxigenic moulds. Since spices are possible source of contamination of the final product and potential producers of mycotoxins, it is necessary to estimate the degree of moulds contamination. Therefore it is necessary to conduct an adequate and continuous control of spices on presence of the moulds. The choice of a culture media to carry out mycological analysis of food is extremely important to guarantee the reliability of the analysis. This paper presents an overview of the analysis of different spices (n=15) for the presence of xerophilic moulds, by using Dichloran Rose-Bengal Chloramphenicol Agar” (Oxoid, CM 727) and “Dichloran-Glycerol (DG18) Agar Base” (Oxoid, CM 729). , Black and white grounded pepper, were the most contaminated (3.62-3.79 log₁₀cfu/g) of 15 samples tested, while in the remaining samples an average contamination level of 2.7 log₁₀ cfu/g was established.