Prepacked ground Indian spices which included pepper. turmeric, chilli, and coriander were found to be heavily contaminated with bacteria and molds. The total bacterial counts ranged between 10 5 –10 7 . whereas total fungal counts ranged between 10 2 –10 6 . Red chilli was found to be the most contaminated spice. The bacterial population consisted mainly of spores. A dose of 10 kGy was found to be effective in destroying these microbes in prepacked spices without affecting their quality attributes. To eliminate mold contamination a dose of 5 kGy was sufficient. During a six‐month storage study of irradiated and unirradiated spices, the irradiated spices were found to retain their quality.
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MUNASIRI et al. (1987) studied this question.
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