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

摘要: Most studies evaluating the use of essential oils (EO) as antibacterial agents focus mainly on minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) rather than bactericidal (MBC). In this work, we compared MICs and MBCs EO from condiment plants commonly used in Mediterranean Europe, namely Origanum vulgare, Salvia lavandulaefolia, officinalis, sclarea Rosmarinus aiming to evaluate their application disinfecting minimally processed produce. Outbreaks-related pathogens such Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa Yarrowia lipolytica were used. Results showed that all able reduce bacterial growth strains tested, particularly O. vulgare. However, fewer exhibited activities, only effective against one or two strains, hence eliminating possibility them broad range disinfectants. Furthermore, necessary too high for food application. Hence, our work suggests need MBC MIC questions usefulness controlling undesired microorganisms. Overall, despite large volume data published EO, results obtained not very encouraging a realistic produce question viability EOs food.