fungi and bacterial infection in ginseng roots

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Moulds, yeasts and aerobic plate counts in ginseng supplements.

 

Tournas VH, Katsoudas E, Miracco EJ.

 

Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration,

5100 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, MD 20740, USA.

 

Forty six ginseng supplement samples including Siberian ginseng root,

Chinese ginseng herb and root, and American ginseng root and extract were

purchased from retail in the Washington, DC area and from Penn Herb Co.

(Philadelphia, PA) and tested for mould and yeast (MY) contamination and the

presence of aerobic mesophilic bacteria (APC). Results indicated that 100%

of the Siberian ginseng samples were contaminated with fungi and bacteria.

MY counts ranged from 8.0x10(2) to 1.4x10(3) cfu/g whereas the APCs were

between 2.3x10(4) and 1.0x10(6) cfu/g. Most common fungi encountered in this

commodity were Penicillium spp., Eurotium rubrum, E. chevalieri and Rhizopus

spp. Seventy-eight percent of the Chinese ginseng herb samples were

contaminated with fungi and 89% with bacteria at levels ranging between <100

and 6.0x10(4) and <100 and 1.2x10(6) cfu/g, respectively. Moulds commonly

isolated were Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus spp.,

Cladosporium spp., E. chevalieri, Penicillium spp. and Rhizopus spp. Fifty

six percent of the Chinese ginseng root samples tested contained fungi (A.

niger, Rhizopus spp. and yeasts), and 100% contained bacteria. Fungal counts

ranged between <100 and 1.4x10(3) cfu/g and APCs were between 3.0x10(2) and

6.8x10(5) cfu/g. Forty-eight percent of the American ginseng root samples

contained moulds and 30% showed bacterial contamination. MY counts were

between <100 and 4.3x10(5) cfu/g whereas APCs were between <100 and 4

5x10(4) cfu/g. A. flavus was isolated from 9% and Penicillium spp. were

recovered from 39% of the tested samples. This is the first report of A.

flavus contamination in ginseng supplements. No moulds or yeasts were found

in ginseng extract, but 50% of these samples contained bacteria at levels

ranging between <100 and 1.0x10(3) cfu/g.