Essential oils as antibacterial agents against food-borne pathogens: Are they really as useful as they are claimed to be?

Most studies evaluating the use of essential oils (EO) as antibacterial agents focus mainly on minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) rather than minimal bactericidal concentrations (MBC). In this work, we compared MICs and MBCs of EO from condiment plants commonly used in Mediterranean Europe, nam...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of food science and technology 2017-12, Vol.54 (13), p.4344-4352
Main Authors: Santos, M. I. S., Martins, S. R., Veríssimo, C. S. C., Nunes, M. J. C., Lima, A. I. G., Ferreira, R. M. S. B., Pedroso, L., Sousa, I., Ferreira, M. A. S. S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibacterial agents
Antiinfectives and antibacterials
Antimicrobial agents
Bacteria
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Chemistry/Food Science
Data processing
Disinfectants
Essential oils
Food contamination
Food irradiation
Food Science
Listeria
Listeria monocytogenes
Microorganisms
Minimum inhibitory concentration
Nutrition
Oils & fats
Oregano
Original
Original Article
Outbreaks
Pathogens
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Strains (organisms)
Studies
Viability
Yarrowia lipolytica
Yeast
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Summary:Most studies evaluating the use of essential oils (EO) as antibacterial agents focus mainly on minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) rather than minimal bactericidal concentrations (MBC). In this work, we compared MICs and MBCs of EO from condiment plants commonly used in Mediterranean Europe, namely Origanum vulgare , Salvia lavandulaefolia , Salvia officinalis , Salvia sclarea and Rosmarinus officinalis , aiming to evaluate their application as disinfecting agents in minimally processed produce. Outbreaks-related pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes , Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Yarrowia lipolytica were used. Results showed that all EO were able to reduce bacterial growth in all bacterial strains tested, particularly O. vulgare . However, fewer EO exhibited bactericidal activities, and were only effective against one or two bacterial strains, hence eliminating the possibility to use them as broad range disinfectants. Furthermore, the necessary concentrations were too high for food application. Hence, our work suggests the need to evaluate MBC rather than MIC and questions EO usefulness in controlling undesired microorganisms. Overall, and despite the large volume of data published on EO, results obtained were not very encouraging for a realistic application on produce and question the viability of EOs as disinfecting agents in food.
ISSN:0022-1155
0975-8402
DOI:10.1007/s13197-017-2905-0