Abstract
The chemical composition and antibacterial activity of essential oils from 10 commonly consumed herbs: Citrus aurantium, C. limon, Lavandula angustifolia, Matricaria chamomilla, Mentha piperita, M. spicata, Ocimum basilicum, Origanum vulgare, Thymus vulgaris and Salvia officinalis have been determined. The antibacterial activity of these oils and their main components; i.e. camphor, carvacrol, 1,8-cineole, linalool, linalyl acetate, limonene, menthol, α-pinene, β-pinene, and thymol were assayed against the human pathogenic bacteria Bacillus subtilis, Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Micrococcus flavus, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella enteritidis, S. epidermidis, S. typhimurium, and Staphylococcus aureus. The highest and broadest activity was shown by O. vulgare oil. Carvacrol had the highest antibacterial activity among the tested components.
Highlights
Food processors, food safety researchers, and regulatory agencies have been increasingly concerned with the growing number of food-borne illness outbreaks caused by pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella sp., Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Bacillus cereus, and entero-pathogenic Escherichia coli [1,2]
Emerging resistance of bacterial species is seriously decreasing the number of effective antimicrobials
Of all natural antimicrobials we tested in this work the results indicate that the essential oils of Origanum vulgare and Thymus vulgaris, as well as their components, carvacrol and thymol were the most promising
Summary
Food safety researchers, and regulatory agencies have been increasingly concerned with the growing number of food-borne illness outbreaks caused by pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella sp., Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Bacillus cereus, and entero-pathogenic Escherichia coli [1,2]. Because of increasing pressure of consumers and legal authorities, the food industry has tended to reduce the use of chemical preservatives in their products to either completely nil or to adopt more natural alternatives for the maintenance or extension of product shelf life [3] Plants and their essential oils are potentially useful sources of antimicrobial compounds. Spices and herbs have been added to food since ancient time, as flavouring agents and as preservatives [8]
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