Public and private standards for dried culinary herbs and spices—Part II: Production and product standards for ensuring microbiological safety

Dried culinary herbs and spices (DCHS) are minor food components with widespread use. Despite their low water activity, some microorganisms—including pathogenic and toxigenic ones—can survive in DCHS. The addition of microbial contaminated DCHS to ready-to-eat food in combination with improper food storage can pose a serious health risk for the consumer. In the past, several food-borne disease outbreaks were related to microbial contaminated spices. The aim of this study was to provide an overview on (i) spice/herb production standards important for promoting food safety by preventing microbial contaminations, (ii) public and private standards providing microbiological criteria to assess the microbiological safety of DCHS, and (iii) product testing performed by DCHS producing/processing businesses to comply with these standards.