Influence of Beef Tallow and Muscle on the Antilisterial Activity of Pediocin AcH and Liposome-Encapsulated Pediocin AcH

Abstract

The activity of free and liposome-encapsulated pediocin AcH was monitored in slurries (25% in dH2O) of beef tallow and beef muscle. Significant loss of pediocin AcH activity was observed within 1.5 min [24–60% recovery of original arbitrary units (AU)] following the addition of 30,000 AU of pediocin per ml slurry. Pediocin activity continued to decrease up to 35 min (14–40% recovery of original AU), but thereafter, pediocin activity did not decrease appreciably. More activity was recovered from tallow-than muscle-based slurries and from heated (100°C, 3 min) slurries compared to unheated slurries. Also, the addition of pediocin AcH to slurries (10,000 AU increments) identified saturation levels of ca. 80,000–90,000 AU for tallow compared to ca. 100,000 AU for muscle. Lastly, the encapsulation of pediocin AcH within phosphatidylcholine liposomes resulted in a 27.5% (heated muscle) and 28.9% (heated tallow) increase in the recovery of pediocin activity compared to otherwise similar slurries containing free pediocin.