Microbiological quality control of marketed pollen

Microbiological quality control of 13 pollen samples purchased from local markets and 2 other samples provided by apiarists was investigated. TAMC ranged from 3.00 to 5.48 Log CFU/g. TMYC was between 2.3 and 6.99 Log CFU/g. Staphylococcus aureus was recovered with high density in 14 samples (up to 8.32 Log CFU/g) and Enterobactericeae count ranges from 4.18 to 8.018 Log CFU/g. Moreover, Salmonella spp. and Listeria spp. were detected in seven and ten pollen samples respectively. Potent toxinogenic molds isolated from pollen such as Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, A. alliaceus, Penicillium sp., Alternaria alternata, Alternaria sp., Monila sitophilia, Rhisomucor pusillus and Mucor hiemalis were characterized by conventional methods. In addition, analyzed pollen samples contain pathogenic members of Enterobacteriaceae (Salmonella sp. Shigella sp., Proteus mirabilis, Citrobacter diversus, Klebsiella sp., Escherichia coli, Providencia sp. and Enterobacter cloacae) as revealed by biochemical identification tests. Interestingly, this type of marketed pollen has poor microbiological aspect, unacceptable, and a hazardous food material.