Resumen

BUENO-DURAN, A. Y. et al. Presence of Coliforms bacteria, fungi and aflatoxins in medicinal plants marketed in Nayarit, Mexico. Revista bio ciencias [online]. 2019, vol.6, n.spe, e636.  Epub 14-Nov-2019. ISSN 2007-3380.  https://doi.org/10.15741/revbio.06.nesp.e636.

The consumption of medicinal plants has been currently increasing, either as alternative medicine (under the argument that “natural is innocuous”) or as first-line medicine, due to the lack of health services; however, scientifically there is little certainty about the safety of these products, a situation that far from favoring the consumer’s health, might put it at risk. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate the presence of total and fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, fungi and total aflatoxins in the most marketed medicinal plants in the city of Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico. Analyzed medicinal plants were the most commercialized for the autumn-winter and spring-summer seasons. The results showed that 51.8 % of the analyzed samples were contaminated by total coliforms, 12 % by fecal coliforms and 6 % by E. coli. Regarding fungi, those of greatest presence were of the genus Aspergillus, identifying the species A. niger, A. fumigatus, and A. terreus. Aflatoxins were found in 44.6 % of analyzed samples and 21.7 % showed levels above the permissible limits (>20ppb). The presence of this type of contaminants in medicinal plants evidenced bad practices in the handling of this type of products, and represented a risk for consumer’s health, since the microorganisms detected in this work are potential pathogens, and in the case of mycotoxins, they are carcinogenic. Thus, a strict regulation in the management (cultivation, storage and commercialization) of this type of products is necessary to ensure their safety.

Palabras llave : Medicinal herbs; microbiological contamination; mycotoxins.