Antimicrobial substances of natural origin: a review of properties and prospects

Abstract

This article reviews data on antimicrobial additives used in the food industry for preserving the quality of food products. The use of conventional antimicrobial additives, including artificial preservatives (benzoic and sorbic acids and their salts), causes a negative response among consumers. As a result, such products are gradually disappearing from the market. At the same time, antimicrobial additives of natural origin are gaining in popularity, increasingly attracting the attention of both Russian and foreign researchers. In this article, the main antimicrobial additives of animal, vegetable and microbial origin are considered. Antimicrobial additives of animal origin are represented by lysozyme and lactoperoxidase enzymes, lactoferrin and pleurocidin peptides, as well as by chitosan, a derivative of chitin. Plant substances that exhibit antimicrobial and antioxidant properties include herbs and spices, both in native and dried form, as well as separately extracted plant components, such as essential oils, phenolic compounds and organic acids. Substances of microbial origin, in particular bacteriocins, comprise another promising class of antimicrobial additives. These forms represent smaller polypeptide molecules synthesized on ribosomes, which exhibit antagonistic activity against closely related groups of bacteria. Bacteriocins, such as nisin, natamycin, pediocin, enterocin and plantaricin, may exhibit bactericidal properties, at the same time as having little therapeutic value and no negative effect on the human intestinal microflora. This makes them different from antibiotic preparations. The conducted review confirms the prospects of using the considered additives in the composition of both food products and active packaging systems.