Abstract
The degree of bacterial contamination in various commercial spices was evaluated. Total aerobic bacterial counts were 103-107/g in 8 kinds of spices (39 materials). Of these spices, black pepper indicated the highest contamination of more than 106/g in 3 of 11 samples. The members of aerobic bacteria consisted of 90% of gram positive sporeformers (Bacillus), 6.5% of gram negative rods and 3.5% of gram positive cocci.
Bacillus strains of these bacterial isolates were identified according to Gordon's schemes. Although the constituents of contaminated flora were different among kinds of spices, as a whole, B. subtilis, B. pumilus and B. licheniformis were predominant components in spice samples, and were 351, 66 and 30 of 497 isolated strains, respectively. Biochemical properties of these species agreed with description of Bergey's manual (8th).
