ABSTRACT
Natural vanilla is an important ingredient in the food industry all over the world. The vanilla bean, the fruit of the climbing orchid Vanilla planifolia, is the main source for the commercial production of vanilla avor, which consists of a mixture of vanillin and many other avored compounds (Perez-Silva et al., 2006). However, the development of the vanilla avor in harvested green beans is obtained only after a curing process comprising four stages in the traditional method; that is, killing, sweating, drying, and conditioning. As vanilla requires a humid tropical climate, the drying step is a key element to prevent microbial development, which might compromise its quality. The curing process, which takes several months, will then determine the vanilla bean quality regarding both commercial and safety standards. Over the past 20 years, the number of standards has grown rapidly due to the globalization and free trade. A very high value added product such as vanilla is very dependent on both the regulatory and private standards to be competitive on the international markets. In addition to the numerous technical regulations on food safety, plant protection, and labeling developed at the national and international levels, the private sector has increasingly established new standards covering the supply chain from farm to table. During these different stages of the vanilla beans preparation and storage, microbial hazards can occur at multiple points and then multiply or crosscontaminate other products once present. Thus, a farm-to-table approach is required to identify the hazards and the most effective points to control their occurrence. Since spices and food ingredients might be a source of contaminations (Scheuer and Gareis, 2002), this chapter focuses on the microbiological hazards associated with the processing and storage of cured vanilla beans and on the preventive measures to control those hazards.
