Approaches for the Elimination of Microbial Contaminants from Lippia multiflora Mold. Leaves Intended for Tea Bagging and Evaluation of Formulation

Table 5

Microbial load analyses of tea bags prepared from the microwaved air-dried leaves of L. multiflora Mold.

Test conducted	LTB1 (cfu/g)	LTB2 (cfu/g)	LTB3 (cfu/g)	LTB4 (cfu/g)	Acceptance criterion (BP, 2019)
^1TAMC/37°C/24 h/PCA	8.7 × 10^4	1.3 × 10^3	2.6 × 10^4	6.9 × 10^5	≤5.0 × 10^7
^2TYMC/25°C/5 days/MEA	6.5 × 10^3	9.1 × 10^4	4.3 × 10^3	3.8 × 10^3	≤5.0 × 10^5
E. coli	−	−	−	−	Absence
Salmonella spp.	−	−	−	−	Absence
Staphylococcus spp.	−	−	−	−	Absence

BP, British Pharmacopoeia; ¹TAMC: total aerobic microbial counts; ²TYMC: total yeast and molds counts; −: absent; +: present; PCA: plate count agar; MEA: malt extract agar.