Abstract
SUMMARYDue to the high amount of biologically active compounds, basil is one of the most popular herbs. However, several outbreaks have been reported in the world due to the consumption of basil contaminated with different food pathogens. The aim of this study is to apply nonthermal and ecologically friendly approach based on photosensitization for microbial control of basil which was naturally contaminated with mesophils and inoculated with thermoresistant food pathogen Listeria monocytogenes 56Ly. The obtained data indicate that soaking the basil in 1.5·10-4 M chlorophyllin (Chl) for 15 min and illumination with light for 15 min at 405 nm significantly reduced total aerobic microorganisms on basil by 1.3 log CFU/g, and thermoresistant L. monocytogenes 56Ly from 6.1 log CFU/g in control to 4.5 log CFU/g in the treated samples. It is important to note that this treatment had no impact on enzymatic activity of polyphenol oxidase and pectinesterase. Results obtained in this study support the idea that photosensitization technique with its high selectivity, antimicrobial efficiency and nonthermal nature can serve in the future for the development of safe nonthermal and environmentally friendly preservation technology for different fruits and vegetables.
Highlights
Basil is one of the most popular pot-herbs mostly due to high amount of biologically active compounds, such as volatile oils, tannins, terpenes, flavonoids, glycosides and macro- and microelements
The aim of this study is to apply nonthermal and ecologically friendly approach based on photosensitization for microbial control of basil which was naturally contaminated with mesophils and inoculated with thermoresistant food pathogen Listeria monocytogenes 56Ly
The obtained data indicate that soaking the basil in 1.5·10-4 M chlorophyllin (Chl) for 15 min and illumination with light for 15 min at 405 nm significantly reduced total aerobic microorganisms on basil by 1.3 log CFU/g, and thermoresistant L. monocytogenes 56Ly from 6.1 log CFU/g in control to 4.5 log CFU/g in the treated samples
Summary
Basil is one of the most popular pot-herbs mostly due to high amount of biologically active compounds, such as volatile oils, tannins, terpenes, flavonoids, glycosides and macro- and microelements. Despite its high antimicrobial activity, due to phenolic compounds (carvacrol, eugenol, linalool, and thymol) [2,3], several outbreaks have been reported after consumption of minimally processed foods that included basil [4,5,6]. Estonia reported 3.6 % of ready-to-eat products contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. In 2008, the consumption of basil contaminated with Salmonella enterica induced outbreak of salmonellosis in Israel and it spread out in four countries [8]. In the United Kingdom, Berger et al [9] reported a large outbreak of salmonellosis (55 people) due to consumption of basil. It is evident that conventional antimicrobial technologies for decontamination of fresh produce are not efficient enough
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