Different strains of microorganisms contaminate medicinal herb, and theirs, enzymes could modify the normal composition of herbal products.
Material and methods: We evaluated the microbiological quality of 12 samples of Chamomillae floss commercialized in, markets and specific stores. Microbiological quality has been evaluated according European Pharmacopoeia rules. In all samples we determined the total number of germs, total number of fungi and we evaluated the presence of coliform bacilli, respectively Staphylococcus species.
Results: For all samples, the total number of germs was under the limits with variation between 320 CFU/g (P 4) and 14000 CFU/g (P 11). The total number of fungi was under the limits; in most of samples, we detected Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus sp. In 4 samples the total number of Escherichia coli strains was over the limits (100 CFU/g).
Conclusions: An important decrease of total number of coliform bacilli was observed after boiling water has been added but the total number of germs was decreased insignificantly, so these extracts are not very safe for patient especially when vegetal products contain a great number of germs.