Avaliação fisico química e microbiológica de amostras de camomila (Matricaria recutita L.) comercializadas na cidade de Toledo - PR

Abstract

The Matricaria recutita L., popularly known as chamomile is a plant drug that has been widely used as an alternative therapy based on the increased use of herbal medicines and how alternative treatments with the use of conventional medicines. Because of the ease of access to this plant the purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality of Matricaria recutita L. samples commercialized in the city of Toledo - PR in its chemical and microbiological physical aspects. In total twelve samples of different brands were analyzed. In a study evaluating the characteristics of the plant, all samples are within the standard. In quantifying the ash content was little variation in the percentage found, however all samples are within the Pharmacopeia standards. foreign materials were found above the allowed four marketed samples. The yield of essential oil extracted averaged 0.7%. Through the identification analysis of chemical compounds, alpha-bisabolol was found in all the developed chromatograms, beyond other components were also visualized. In assessing the presence of mesophilic bacteria the number of colony forming unit ranged from 30 CFU / g to 520 CFU / g. In one sample, the number of filamentous fungi reached 38,000 CFU / g. To determine the presence of contamination by thermotolerant coliforms MPN technique was used for particular crops media for bacterial growth in this group. Through confirmatory test for determination of coliforms two samples were positive for contamination of bacteria from faecal origin where the sample F, the value was found to 68000 CFU / g while in sample K was the result of 5400 CFU / g. The results found mostly in microbiological analysis lead us to think that low microbiological quality of herbal drugs can be the gateway to the development of food-borne diseases also observed as soon as there are also supervisory failures as the production and marketing of these products, moreover, it found that there are also supervisory failures in the production and marketing of these products; only the samples D, H and L were adopted in accordance with the requirements of current legislation.