Spices and herbs are widely used in almost all types of food preparation and their microbial contamination may pose spoilage and public health risk. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the microbiological quality of spices and herbs commercialized in Lebanon. A total of 480 samples of thirteen most commonly consumed types of spices and herbs were collected at two complete sets at three months interval. Each type was purchased in 5 common brands from 4 categories: packaged in companies with Food Safety Management System (FSMS), packaged in companies without FSMS, packaged imported, and ...