The Potential Application of Plant Essential Oils as Natural Preservatives Against Escherichia coli O157:H7

Abstract

Investigation were carried out to compare the efficiency of three plant essential oils; Zataria multiflora, Carum carvi and Mentha piperita as natural food preservatives. The effect of these plant essential oils at concentrations of 0.0, 0.3, 0.6 and 1% was studied against inoculated Escherichia coli O157:H7 (10(5) cfu mL(-1)) in prepared commercial chicken soup stored at 8 and 35 degrees C over seven (168 h) and three (72 h) days, respectively by plate count technique on CT-SMAC agar. Zataria multiflora was the most effective essential oil against the bacterium in all concentrations, followed by Mentha piperita and Carum carvi. The maximum inhibitory effects of all essential oils were seen at 1% concentration. The inhibitory effects were affected by the incubation temperature as well as by the type and concentrations of essential oils. The 1% concentration of Mentha piperita and 0.6 and 1% concentrations of Zataria multiflora essential oil showed bacteriostatic effect on growth of Escherichia coli O157:H7 at 35 degrees C. Also 1% concentration of Carum carvi, 0.6 and 1% concentrations of Mentha piperita and 0.6% concentration of Zataria multiflora essential oil had bacteriostatic effect while 1% concentration of Zataria multiflora essential oil showed bactericidal effect on the bacteria during the incubation period at 8 degrees C. It is concluded that selected plant essential oils have promising inhibitory effects on Escherichia coli O157:H7 in chicken soup and could be considered as natural food preservatives. This is especially relevant at a time when there is an increasing interest in finding more natural alternatives to many existing preservatives.

Chemical composition and antimicrobial activities of the essential oils from three ecotypes of Zataria multiflora

“…on the same strain. [6] Similar to the study by Abbasgholizadeh et al ., the EOs showed bactericidal effects against the clinical isolates of TGCsR and TGCsS E. coli at concentrations ranging from 0.12 to 8 μL/mL. [25] In addition, the EOs exhibited inhibitory and bactericidal activities against S. entrica and Sh.…”

“…[145] In addition, Z. multiflora EOs have been shown to cause inhibitory effects against radial fungal growth and aflatoxin production by Aspergillus flavus in cheese. [2] Moreover, the oil and extracts of Z. multiflora successfully inhibited the growth of bacteria associated with gastrointestinal infections, including Staphylococcus aureus ,[6] enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli ,[7] Salmonella Typhi and Paratyphi,[8] and Shigella flexneri and Bacillus cereus . [89] In the past 2 decades, the emergence of resistance to various antibiotics has accelerated dramatically.…”

Effect of honokiol on exotoxin proteins listeriolysin O and p60 secreted by Listeria monocytogenes

“…This finding is consistent with previous studies demonstrating that honokiol possesses good antimicrobial activity (Ho et al, 2001;Hu et al, 2011). The anti-L. monocytogenes activity of honokiol, with a lower MIC value, was stronger than other naturally occurring compounds, such as the essential oils eugenol (Filgueiras & Vanetti, 2006), bay, cinnamon, clove, thyme (Fazlara et al, 2008;Smith-Palmer et al, 1998) and rosemary (Pandit & Shelef, 1994).…”

Use of essential oils and extracts from spices in meat protection

“…The technique described by Fazlara and Najafzahde (2008) and Jayathilakan et al (2007) was used to apply the selected essential oils and extracts on lean red meat pulp. From the results obtained from the minimum concentrations to avoid the bacteria growth, it was decided to use the most effective minimum oil and extract concentration from all the tests to use as the lowest oil and extract concentration applied on meat.…”