Insights into the Bacterial Diversity and Detection of Opportunistic Pathogens in Mexican Chili Powder.

Chili powder is the most frequently consumed spice in Mexican diets. Thus, the dissemination of microorganisms associated with chili powder derived from L. is significant during microbial quality analysis, with special attention on detection of potential pathogens. The results presented here describe the initial characterization of bacterial community structure in commercial chili powder samples. Our results demonstrate that, within the domain Bacteria, the most abundant family was , with a relative abundance of 99% in 71.4% of chili powder samples, while 28.6% of samples showed an average relative abundance of 60% for the family. Bacterial load for aerobic mesophilic bacteria (AMB) ranged from 10 to 10 cfu/g, while for sporulated mesophilic bacteria (SMB), the count ranged from 10 to 10 cfu/g. () was observed at ca. ˂600 cfu/g, while the count for ranged from 10 to 10 cfu/g, and were not detected. Fungal and yeast counts ranged from 10 to 10 cfu/g. Further analysis of the opportunistic pathogens isolated, such as and using antibiotic-resistance profiles and toxinogenic characteristics, revealed the presence of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) and Metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) in these organisms. These results extend our knowledge of bacterial diversity and the presence of opportunistic pathogens associated with Mexican chili powder and highlight the potential health risks posed by its use through the spread of antibiotic-resistance and the production of various toxins. Our findings may be useful in developing procedures for microbial control during chili powder production.