Microbial quality of some herbal solid dosage forms

Herbal remedies are widely used for the treatment and prevention of various diseases and often contain highly active pharmacological compounds. These products have the potential of contamination withdifferent microorganisms. This is due to raw materials contamination and unhygienic production conditions. In this study, microbiological quality of some herbal solid dosage forms from public markets, in the city of Sari, Iran was examined. 20 herbal products as tablet, powder and capsule wereprepared. The products were evaluated for microbial contamination by USP (United States Pharmacopoeia) microbial limit test for enumeration and identification. Total aerobic count showed that all products had more than 1100 microorganism per gram. Isolation and identification of microbialcontamination showed that all the samples were contaminated with Salmonella sp. and there was no evidence for contamination of the samples by Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. In conclusion, all the samples of herbal drugs evaluated did not generally meet the standards for microbial limits as specified in official monographs. Such products can adversely affect health status of consumers as well as the stability of the products

Induction of biodeterioration on vegetables by three fungal species

The effect of three fungal species on the nutrient profile of onions and cucumbers was studied. The species identities of the fungal isolates were initially determined based on macro- and micro-morphological characters as well as molecular confirmation, using the internal transcribed spacer region. The isolates were confirmed as Neocosmospora ramosa (MG682504), Aspergillus tamarii (MG682505) and A. violaceofuscus (MG682503). We then used each fungus to induce biodeterioration and performed proximate analysis of nutrient breakdown. We also assayed each fungus for the production of mycotoxins and performed anti-fungal susceptibility tests using fluconazole and voriconazole. We found that N. ramosa facilitated the highest rate of biodeterioration for onions and cucumber. Our anti-fungal tests revealed that non-aflatoxigenic A. tamarii was susceptible to voriconazole, but resistant to fluconazole. A. violaceofuscus (also non-aflatoxigenic) was found to be susceptible to both anti-fungals, while N. ramosa was resistant to both the anti-fungals tested. This study underscores the ability of fungi to degrade vegetables, and the need to focus on intervention through both chemical and best practices.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio