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Green huajiao, which is the ripe pericarp of the fruit of Zanthoxylum schinifolium Sieb. et Zucc, is widely consumed in Asia as a spice. In this work, the chemical composition of the essential oil from green huajiao was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and GC/mass spectrometry (MS), and the majority of components were identified. Linalool (28.2%), limonene (13.2%), and sabinene (12.1%) were found to be the major components. The antibacterial activity, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the essential oil were evaluated against selected bacteria, including food-borne pathogens. The results showed that the sensitivities to the essential oil were different for different bacteria tested, and the susceptibility of Gram-positive bacteria tested was observed to be greater than that of Gram-negative bacteria. The antibacterial activity of the essential oil was particularly strong against Staphylococcus epidermidis , with MIC and MBC values of 2.5 and 5.0 mg/mL, respectively. A postcontact effect assay also confirmed the essential oil had a significant effect on the growth rate of surviving S. epidermidis . The antibacterial activity of the essential oil from green huajiao may be due to the increase in permeability of cell membranes, and the leakage of intracellular constituents, on the basis of the cell constituents' release assay and electron microscopy observations.

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