Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy Introduction The food industry is still facing the problem of dust present during the processing and storage of products such as herbs and cereals. Therefore, special attention is paid to the protection of workers against negative effects of the presence of dust at various stages of production [1, 2]. Hence, at the beginning measurements of dust concentration at the affected workstations are made and then the rates of exposure to it in relation to a full-time working day are determined. These are compared with the values of the maximum allowable concentration of dust (MAC). If the rate values are higher than MAC, then the employer should immediately undertake action to minimize the concentration of harmful substances in the work environment to the acceptable level. Assessment of dust contamination in herbal industry is a complex process that aims not only to determine the amount of detected substances in the work environment, but also to identify their composition and the importance for the Pol. J. Environ. Stud. Vol. 28, No. 5 (2019), 1-7 Original Research Microbiological Analysis and Concentration of Organic Dust in an Herb Processing Plant Kazimierz Zawiślak 1 , Paweł Sobczak 1 *, Marta Kozak 1 , Jacek Mazur 1 , Marian Panasiewicz 1 , Wioletta Żukiewicz-Sobczak 2 , Janusz Wojdalski 3 , Leszek Mieszkalski 3 1 Department of Food Engineering and Machines, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, Poland 2 Department of Public Health, Pope John Paul II State School of Higher Education in Biała Podlaska, Biała Podlaska, Poland 3 Department of Production Organization and Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences Received: 14 May 2018 Accepted: 23 July 2018 Abstract In the dust of organic plant origin the presence of micro organisms, particularly moulds and endotoxins, is recorded to have harmful effects on the human body and cause many diseases. The microbiological quality of the processed plants is largely dependent on the fragment of the plant used as raw material, since the microbial contaminants are the result of different contacts of each particular part of the plant with the external environment during cultivation and further processing. Organic dust present in the plant raw material may be varied not only in terms of microbial contamination, but also regarding the size of particles thereof. In the presented study an attempt was made to identify fungi found in the organic dust sampled in an herb processing plant located in eastern Poland. The concentrations of PM10 and PM 1.0 were determined within two production lines, and these values were then referred to the existing regulations. The mean concentration of PM10 signifcantly exceeded the alert level. Keywords: dust; contamination; moulds, herb industry; environment *e-mail: pawel.sobczak@up.lublin.pl DOI: 10.15244/pjoes/93705 ONLINE PUBLICATION DATE: