Fungal contamination in dried spices sold in the market of the Porto of Cuiabá-MT

Resumo

Condiments are products of natural origin, with or without nutritional value, used in food in order to modify or enhance the flavor. However, these can be contaminated by bacteria and fungi during storage, transport or handling. The aim of this work was to research filamentous fungi in four of the most sold types of dehydrated spices at Port market, Cuiabá-MT: oregano (Origanum vulgare L.), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) and black pepper (Piper nigrum L.). For this, 200 g of each spice were acquired and, the collection was done in three periods of time, February, July and December 2014, totaling 12 samples. Fungal species were inoculated with Sabouraud agar with chloramphenicol, with subsequent fungal count and ultrastructure of fungal genera. The basil and black pepper were the spices that had higher fungal count (> 100 CFU / g) and rosemary the lowest score (2.8 x 10¹ CFU / g). The following were isolated filamentous fungi: Absidia spp; Alternaria spp; Aspergillus spp; Cladosporium spp; Mycelia sterilia; Mucor spp; Paecylomyces spp and Penicillium spp, and the genera Aspergillus was the most frequent (n = 165/67%). The presence of different types of filamentous fungi suggests that the conditions of production, storage and manipulation in the analyzed point of sale are not appropriate, making the spices evaluated susceptible to microbiological contamination.