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Background: Herbal teas are produced and sold in packaged or unpackaged forms all over the world. The aim of this study was microbial evaluation of Turkish herbal teas before and after infusion in boiled water. Methods: A total of 20 packaged and unpackaged samples of Turkish herbal teas, including chamomile, salvia, green, mix, apple, mate, ginger, linden, fennel, and senna tea were collected. All of the samples were analyzed before and after infusion in hot water (~100 °C). Microbiological analyses were performed with tenfold serial dilution for yeast-mold, Salmonella, and Cronobacter sakazakii after enrichment by using the spread-on-plate method on selective agar. Data were statistically analyzed by using Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 Excel software. Results: Three out of the 20 tea samples (15%) were contaminated with C. sakazakii. None of the samples were contaminated with Salmonella spp. No significant difference was found in occurrence of C. sakazakii before and after infusion of the samples (p>0.05). Mold and yeast contamination were found in 12 out of 20 teas samples (60%). No statistical significance (p>0.05) was found between the mold-yeast contents of the unpackaged and packaged herbal teas. After infusion, neither mold nor yeast was observed in any of the samples. Conclusion: All of the herbal teas in this research were found to be within the microbiological limits for consumption according to Turkish Food Codex. However, the microbiological results highlighted the need for quality control of senna tea during production to eliminate the risk of C. sakazakii contamination.

This study was conducted to determine the recent level of contamination with Fumonisin B 1 (FB 1 ) and Fumonisin B 2 (FB 2 ) in major medicinal plants and to assess consumer exposure in northern Turkey. FB 1 and FB 2 were investigated by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fl uorescence detection after derivatization with o-phthaldialdehyde (OPA). A total of 78 homemade medicinal plant samples from 14 species were analysed. The recovery in thyme was 67.2±5.2% for FB 1 and 80.8±14.3% for FB 2 spiked with 1 μg g -1 of each analyte. The minimum detectable amount for the OPA derivatives of FB 1 and FB 2 were 1 ng per injection and 2.5 ng per injection, respectively. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) S/N=10 was 0.078 and 0.313 μg g -1 , and the limit of detection (LOD) S/N=3 was 0.023 and 0.093 μg g -1 for FB 1 and FB 2 , respectively. FB 1 was detected in thyme (0.125) and mint (0.125 and 0.256 μg g -1 ) samples; however. FB 2 toxin was below the detection limit in all samples. These results indicate that toxins might be present in homemade medicinal plants; however, the risk of exposure to fumonisins by the consumption of those plants was lower than the estimated TDI limits (<2 μg kg -1 bw).