Occurrence of Toxigenic Fungi in Herbal Drugs

The increase in the consumption of natural drugs have made their use a Public Health problem due to the possibility of access to products without adequate conditions of use. The concern with the quality of the natural products is due to the potential fungal contamination and the risk of the presence of mycotoxins. Ninety-one samples of medicinal plants were evaluated for the fungal contamination and the mycotoxigenic potential of Aspergillus and Penicillium isolated from the samples. Results indicated that predominant mycoflora was distributed in 10 genera. From these, 89.9% of the isolates corresponded to genera Aspergillus and Penicillium, which are extremely important from the mycotoxicological standpoint. 21.97% of the Aspergillus and Penicillium isolates proved to have the ability for producing aflatoxins (42.9%), ochratoxin A (22.4%) and citrinine (34.7%). The presence of toxigenic moulds represents a potential risk of mycotoxin contamination and considering the worldwide increased use of herbal products as alternative medicines, it is necessary setting standards for toxigenic moulds in crude herbal drugs in order to reduce the risks for consumers’ health.