Investigation of regional differences of the dominant microflora of spice paprika by molecular methods

As microbial contamination of spices comes primarily from the soil, and soil microbiota are dependent on climate, geography, agriculture, etc a qualitative focus on the dominant microflora of spices instead of the quantitative determination of commonly studied spoilage and pathogenic microflora may give a better insight into the geological origin of the sample. The aim of the present study was to identify using molecular microbiological methods the dominant bacteria of spice paprika produced at different countries and to look for species characteristic of spices from the given regions. According to our data, no differentiation could be made among spice paprika samples of different geographical origin using the total bacterial count or extent of mould contamination. However, when the dominant microflora is examined, bacterial species could be identified in the spice paprika samples characteristic of a particular climate. According to our study, the presence of Bacillus mycoides and Bacillus licheniformis was characteristic of the microflora of spice paprika grown in Central Europe; Bacillus safensis could be detected in all four paprika samples examined from the tropical monsoon climate; the species common to all three samples of the tropical climate group were Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subsp. plantarum and subsp. amyloliquefaciens, while Bacillus mojavensis was detected as being characteristic of Spanish origin for paprika. No common species were found in the paprika samples originating from China.