Prevalence of toxigenic fungi in common medicinal herbs and spices in India
Biotech
Prevalence of toxigenic fungi in common medicinal herbs and spices in India
Visenuo Aiko 0 1
Alka Mehta 0 1
0 School of Bio Sciences and Technology, VIT University , Vellore 632014 , India
1 & Alka Mehta
Mycotoxins are unavoidable contaminants of food grains, feeds, medicinal herbs, and spices, posing as health threat to animals and humans. The objective of this study was to screen medicinal herbs and spices for fungi and mycotoxin contamination and evaluate their safety. Sixty-three samples were examined for fungal contamination and fungal load determined using standard microbiological method. Aflatoxin and citrinin were detected using thin layer chromatography and high-performance chromatography technique. Fifty-eight out of the 63 samples were contaminated, while five were free from fungal contamination. Analysis revealed that 47 % of the samples had a fungal load above 1 9 103 cfu/g which is the permissible limit set by World Health Organization. The samples Mesua ferrea-II and Terminalia chebula-III had the highest fungal load, i.e., 5.0 9 104 cfu/g. A total of 187 fungi were isolated, out of which 28 were toxigenic which included 19 aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus flavus and 9 citrinin-producing Penicillium citrinum. The natural contamination with aflatoxin B1 was detected only in one sample, i.e., Arachis hypogaea (groundnut) which was present beyond the permissible limit. Though toxigenic fungi were isolated, mycotoxins were not detected from any of the medicinal herbs and spices. Medicinal herbs and spices are susceptible to toxigenic fungi; however, they also possess intrinsic factors that inhibit mycotoxin contamination. This
Aflatoxin B1; Mycotoxins
-
study provides a basis in assessing the degree of fungal and
potential mycotoxin contamination in medicinal herbs and
spices.
Introduction
Citrinin Fungal load
Mycotoxins which literally mean ‘‘fungus poison’’ are
secondary metabolites produced by saprophytic fungi, such
as Aspergillus flavus, A. ochraceus, Fusarium moniliforme,
F. graminearum, Penicillium citrinum, P. expansum, etc.
The important mycotoxins causing significant health
hazards are aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, citrinin, Fusarium toxins,
patulin, and zearalenone. They are toxic to both animal
species and humans and are reported to be carcinogenic,
hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic, cytotoxic, mutagenic, and
immuno-suppressive
(Hussain and Brasel 2001)
.
Mycotoxins occur as natural and unavoidable
contaminants on a variety of food commodities posing as potential
health hazard. The occurrence of fungi and mycotoxins in
medicinal herbs has been reported from around the world.
Studies in India showed the natural occurrence of aflatoxin
B1, citrinin, ochratoxin A, and zearalenone in medicinal
plants and herbal drugs, such as Asparagus racemosus,
Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Elettaria cardomomum, Piper
nigrum, Zingiber officinale, etc.
(Roy et al. 1988;
Chourasia 1995; Thirumala-Devi et al. 2001)
. The incidence of
toxigenic fungi producing aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, and
fumonisin on medicinal herbs was reported from Argentina
(Rizzo et al. 2004)
. An investigation from South Africa
showed the presence of fumonisin B1 in dietary and
medicinal wild plants
(Sewram et al. 2006)
.
Bugno et al.
(2006)
had reported the occurrence of aflatoxins-,
ochratoxin A-, and citrinin- producing Aspergillus and
Penicillium in medicinal herbs in Brazil. In Saudi Arabia, the
presence of aflatoxin B1 (12–40 lg/kg) in Pimpenella
anisum, P. nigrum, Mentha piperita, and Origamun
majorana was reported
(Bokhari 2007)
. A survey in Korea on
spices and processed spice products for aflatoxin
contamination showed the presence of aflatoxins at 0.08–4.66 lg/
kg level in samples of red pepper and ginger products
(Cho
et al. 2008)
. Multicontamination of mycotoxins with T-2
toxin, zearalenone, aflatoxins, ochratoxin A,
deoxynivalenol, citrinin, and fumonisin were detected in 84
medicinal herbs surveyed in Spain
(Santos et al. 2009)
.
In India, the medicinal properties of plants have been
greatly exploited in Ayurveda which is one of the
traditional systems of Indian medicine. Herbs are used as
dietary and health supplements and the demand for
medicinal herbs as an alternative medicine has increased
over the last few years. These herbs are often prone to
fungal and mycotoxin contamination; the efficacy and
safety of medicinal herbs are questionable, and the detailed
reports on the same are still scarce
(Calixto 2000;
Trucksess and Scott 2008)
. The consumption of medicinal herbs
contaminated with mycotoxins may cause ill effects rather
than improving the well-being of an individual.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety of
medicinal herbs and spices by screening for fungal and
mycotoxin contamination. In addition, the fungal load in
the samples was determined, and toxigenic fungi were
identified.
Materials and methods
Sampling
Medicinal herbs and spices were collected from retail
market (...truncated)