Antifungal Activity of Some Essential Oils Emulsions Against Fungi Contaminating Ras Cheese.

Abstract

<b>Background and Objective:</b> Ras cheese is one of the important dairy products that are consumed in great quantities. But this cheese is vulnerable to the growth of fungi during ripening and selling until consumption. Therefore, research aimed to detect fungi contaminating Ras cheese and try to resist them. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> The effect of various concentrations (0.25, 0.5, 1, 2 and 3%) of essential oils emulsions of clove (<i>Syzygium aromaticum</i>), thyme (<i>Thymus vulgaris</i>) and peppermint (<i>Mentha piperita</i>) severally on the mycelial growth of the isolated fungi as compared to the control sample was tested <i>in vitro.</i> <b>Results:</b> The results indicated that many fungal species belonging to the genera <i>Aspergillus</i>, <i>Mucor</i>, <i>Eurotium</i> and <i>Mortierella</i> were isolated from the infected Ras cheese. Ochratoxin A was found in two samples whereas recorded the highest level in sample number 1 (2.1 μg kg<sup>1</sup>). Aflatoxin M1 was found in few levels ranged between 0.012 and 0.360 μg kg<sup>1</sup>in cheese samples, while aflatoxin B1 and B2 weren't detected in all samples. Clove essential oil emulsion completely inhibited the growth of all tested fungi at the concentration of 0.5%, followed by thyme essential oil emulsion which inhibited the fungal growth of all fungi at the concentration of 1%, while peppermint essential oil emulsion was less effective. <b>Conclusion:</b> The research recommends that clove and thyme essential oils emulsions can be used to resist the fungi of Ras cheese. Also, suggests that more research could be done on these essential oils emulsions to produce safe foods free of fungi.