The microbiological quality of 10 spices or herbs was determined by a national survey at the retail level. Aerobic plate count values for the 10 products ranged from <100 to 3.1 x 108 per g; mean values of the individual spices or herbs ranged from 1,400 to 820,000 per g. Coliform counts ranged from <3 to 1.1 x 106 per g; however, mean values were <20 per g for all products. Escherichia coli counts ranged from <3 to 2,300 per g. Except for celery seed, which had a mean value of 7 per g, all mean values were <3 per g. Yeast and mold counts were made for 5 of the 10 products. Mean values were generally low; the highest mean (290 per g) was obtained for cinnamon.