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

Table 3

Microbial load analyses of tea bags prepared from the 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 hours/PCA	8.6 × 10^8	TNTC	TNTC	7.3 × 10^9	≤5.0 × 10^7
^2TYMC/25 °C/5 days/MEA	4.9 × 10^7	TNTC	TNTC	5.1 × 10^6	≤5.0 × 10^5
Escherichia coli (E. coli)	+	−	+	−	Absence
Salmonella spp.	−	−	−	−	Absence
Staphylococcus spp.	−	+	−	+	Absence

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