Contamination of spices with moulds potential producers of sterigmatocystine.docVIP

APTEFF, 38, 1-190 (2007) DOI:10.2298/APT0738029K UDC: 664.5:579.67:582.28 BIBLID: 1450-7188 (2007) 38, 29-35 Original scientific paper CONTAMINATION OF SPICES WITH MOULDS POTENTIAL PRODUCERS OF STERIGMATOCYSTINE Sun6ica D. Koci4-Tanackov, Gordana R. Dimi4 and Dragana Karali4  The presence of moulds, potential producers of sterigmatocystine, was investigated in 20 samples of spices (cinnamon, caraway, marjoram and clove). The following five speci- es were isolated from the samples: Aspergillus versicolor, Aspergillus sydowii, Aspergil- lus ustus, Emericella nidulans and Eurotium herbariorum. E. herbariorum was present in all the investigated spice samples, accounting for 7.6% of total mycopopulation in caraway and 42.9% in cloves. A. versicolor was detected in cinnamon, caraway and marjoram, accounting for 0.4% of total mycopopulation in caraway and 1.5% in cinna- mon; A. ustus accounted for 0.1% of total mycopopulation in caraway and 0.4% in marjoram, while A. sydowii accounted for 18.9% of total mycopopulation in marjoram and 7.1% in clove. E. nidulans was a contaminant of caraway (0.01%) and marjoram (0.4%). KEY WORDS: Moulds, producers of sterigmatocystine, spices INTRODUCTION Spices have been used in many industries, with the food industry and catering being predominant users. Having been dried material from plant origin, spices are commonly heavily contaminated with xerophilic storage moulds and bacteria (1, 2, 3). The most frequent fungal contaminants of spices are species from the genera Aspergillus and Peni- cillium (4, 5, 6, 7). Some species that belong to these genera are known as potential producers of diffe- rent toxic substances such as aflatoxins, ochratoxins and sterigmatocystine, i.e. myco- toxins that exhibit toxic, mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic effects in humans and animals (8, 9). Sterigmatocystine (ST) has a chemical structure similar to hep