Microbial contamination of locally available medicinal herbs in Mansehra, Pakistan
Paper Details
Microbial contamination of locally available medicinal herbs in Mansehra, Pakistan
Abstract
Microbial contamination of herbal materials can cause the spoilage of pharmaceuticals to a great extent. Evaluation of microbial loads of plant materials to assure quality is therefore significant investigation. In the present study, eight commercially available medicinal plants were evaluated for bacterial and fungal contamination. The results of present study revealed very high microbial loads and also the presence of some pathogenic bacteria in herbal materials. The bacterial strains identified in the investigation were Staphylococcus epidermydis, E.coli, Pseudomonas, Enterobactar aerogenosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella. The fungal isolates were Rhizopus oryzae, Aspergillus Niger, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigates, Cladosporium herbarum, Mucor hiemalis and Penicillium chrysogenum. It was concluded that commercially available plants in Mansehra may be at high risk of microbial contamination and not suitable for medicinal use.
Abou-Donia MA. 2008. Microbiological quality and aflatoxinogenesis of Egyptian spices and medicinal plants. Global Veterinaria, 2, 175-181.
Banarjee M, Sarkar PK. 2003. Microbiological quality of some retail spices in India. Food Research International, 36, 469-474.
Baxter R, Holzapfel WH. 1982. A microbial investigation of selected spices, herbs and additives in South Africa. Journal of Food Sciences, 47, 570-574.
Czech E, Kneifel W, Kopp B. 2001. Microbiological status of commercially available medicinal herbal drugs-a screening study. Planta Medicinal, 67, 263-269.
Dubey K, Kumar A, Singh P, Shukla R. 2008. Microbial contamination of raw materials: A major reason for the decline of India’s share in the global herbal market. Current Science, 95, 717-719.
FAO. 2000. Food safety and quality as affected by animal feedstuff. Twenty second FAO Regional Conference for Europe, Portugal.
Garcia-Rico L, Leyva-Perez J, Jara-Marini ME. 2001. Content and daily intake of copper, zink, lead, cadmium and mercury from dietary supplements in Mexico. Food Chemistry and Toxicology, 45, 1599-605.
Halt, M. 1998. Molds and mycotoxins in herb tea and medicinal plants. European J. Epidemiology, 14, 269-274.
Hohler D. 2000. A brief survey on important mycotoxins and possible detoxification methods. Food Technology, 4(5/6), 44-46.
Hussain J, Khan AL, Rehman N, Hamayun M, Shinwari ZK, Malik W, Lee IJ. 2009a. Assessment of herbal products and their composite medicinal plants through proximate and micronutrients analysis. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research, 3(12), 1072-1077.
Idu M, Omonigho SE, Igeleke CL, Oronsaye FE, Orhue ES. 2008. Microbial load on medicinal plants sold in Bini markets, Nigeria. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 7, 669-672.
Khan SN, Riaz T, Hannan, Mukhtar I. 2006. Fungal contamination of medicinal herbs during commercial storage in Punjab. Mycopathology, 4, 21-25.
Kneifel W, Berger E. 1994. Microbiological criteria of random samples of spices and herbs retailed on the Austrian Market. Journal of Food Protection, 57, 893-901.
Lee JH, Jo WK. 2006. Characteristics of indoor and outdoor bioaerosols at Korean high-rise apartment buildings. Environmental Research, 101(1), 11–17.
Lutomski J, Kedzia B. 1980. Mycoflora of crude drugs-estimation of mould contaminations and their toxicity. Planta Medicinal, 40, 212-217.
Pavlović S, Dražić S, Radojičić A. 2000. Stolone-born fungi of peppermint (Mentha piperita L.). Proceedings of the first Conference on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Southeast European Countries, 355-361. Institute for Medicinal Plant Research. Dr. Josif Pančić and FPAGRI, Belgrade, 355-361.
Phianphak W, Rengpipat S, Cherdshewasart W. 2007. Gamma irradiation versus microbial contamination of Thai medicinal herbs. Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology, 29, 158-166.
Refai K. 1988. Aflatoxins and Aflatoxicosis. Journal of Egypt Veternary Medicinal Assisment, 48(1), 1–19.
Scimeca JA. 1995. Naturally occurring orally active dietary carcinogens: In: handbook of human toxicology. Massaro E.J. CRC Press, 435-437.
Stević T, Kostić M, Pavlović S, Runjajić-Antić D. 2004. Kontaminacija i zaražavanje lekovitog bilja mikroorganizmima, Biljni lekar/Plant Doctor, 3-4, 290-307.
Zafar Iqbal, Muhammad Farooq, Abid Raza, Aftab Afzal, Inayat Ur Rahman, Aqsa Baig, Amina Bibi, Sabit Rehman , 2014. Microbial contamination of locally available medicinal herbs in Mansehra, Pakistan. J. Biodiv. Environ. Sci., 5(5), 136-142.
Copyright © 2014 by the Authors. This article is an open access article and distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license.