Mycotoxins and Mycotoxigenic Fungi in Ready to Eat Spices and their Prevention

The study aimed at monitoring the effect of long storage of the daily-used spices under varying humidity on the development of mycotoxins and their producing fungi. The spices samples were analyzed for mycotoxins and their potential producing fungi. The results showed that Aspergillus, Eurotium, Fusarium, and Penicillium were the most frequent genera on spices. Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, A. niveus, Eurotium chevalieri, Fusarium oxysporum, F. verticillioides, Penicillium cyclopium, and P. waksmanii were detected as potential mycotoxin-producing fungi. The results exhibited the contamination of spices with aflatoxin B1 and G1, zearalenone, citrinin, and sterigmatocystin in high concentration (66.45µg/Kg, 12.64µg/Kg, 0.064µg/Kg, 0.065µg/Kg, and 0.065µg/Kg, respectively). The results proved that time were a key factor in development of fungi and their mycotoxins. After six months of storage under high RH% (75-80%), the total count of fungi was increased dramatically in some spices like as dill (9.1 x 104 CFU/ g) and sumac (23.16 x 102 CFU/g). However, in the other spices, storage under moderate (50-55%) or natural humidity (10-45%) encouraged the development of fungi more than under high humidity %. The study recommends consumers to use dry fresh spices and not store them for more than two months.