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Abstract (in English)
Saffron is known as a strategic plant in the economic perspective of Herat province, which is one of the most important saffron production areas in Afghanistan. Microbial contamination in saffron is considered as a major challenge to the export of this valuable plant abroad, including European countries. The aim of this research is to study the contamination of saffron with coliform bacteria in Herat province. A total of 100 samples of dried saffron were collected from processors and farmers across Herat city (31 samples), Ghorian, Pashtun Zarghoon and Gherzeh districts (30, 21 and 19 samples, respectively). The samples were transferred to the food technology laboratory inside sterilized plastic bags (to prevent secondary contamination). The results showed that the saffron samples from Pashtun-Zarghun district had the highest microbial contamination with an average contamination of 2.67 log per gram of saffron (2.67 log10CFU/g), while the saffron samples from processors companies in Herat city showed the lowest average of microbial contamination (0.23 log10CFU/g). The saffron samples collected from Ghorian and Gozereh districts were ranked second and third in terms of contamination respectively (2.05 log10CFU/g and 1.85 log10CFU/g). According to the recommendations of the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Food (ICMSF), contamination less than 104 or (<4log10cfu/g) is acceptable. Therefore, with the exception of one sample of saffron from Gozereh district, which was above the standard limit (4.08log10cfu/g), other samples were below the ICMSF standard limit (<4log10cfu/g).