Study of the presence of bacteria belonging to the contaminated Enterobacteriaceae family for some Syrian spices

Abstract

Seasoning are natural products used to add flavor and color to many kinds of foods. Due to their traditional way of production, they could harbor wide range of contaminants, leading to different kinds of intoxications.

In this study, we collected 75 samples of Seasoning from the Syrian markets (mint, black pepper, cumin, spices and red pepper) to evaluate the bacterial content of the coliform group and identify the dominant species. The coliform group was detected using the agar medium, a series of biochemical tests were carried out on isolated strains of samples to study their properties and then identify them using API 20E, The results of the Coliform content of the cumin samples compared to the Syrian standard 2179(2007) showed that five samples were  above  the  recommended limits., while all samples of mint, black pepper and spices were in accordance with the Syrian standard as long as the bacterial counts were equal or below 6 log CFU/g. Five types of bacteria have been identified that have an impact on public health. The  percentage  of  occurrences  of isolated bacteria was The highest for Klebsiella pneumoniae with 69.15%, 16.25% for Kluyvera intermedia, 12.1% for Klebsiells spp, 1.25% for both Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter farmei.