Antimicrobial effect of a combination of herb extract and organic acid against spores.

Journal: Food science and biotechnology
Published Date:

Abstract

The sporicidal activities of the herbs were investigated to screen for novel antimicrobial substances against spores. The bacterial inactivation effects of ethanol extracts of coriander, caraway, mace at concentrations of 0.5% (w/v) and 1.0-2.5% were about 10- and 100-fold respectively against spores. At pH 5, the antimicrobial activity was about 92%, but at pH 4 the sporicidal activity was particularly high, reducing the spore count by 99.99%. The 0.1-2.5% ethanol extract of herbs adjusted to pH 4-5 exhibited significantly marked deactivation effects, with 3-4 log CFU/mL reductions. The herb-acid combination exerted a further increase in sporicidal activity, with an additional 1-3 log CFU/mL reduction. The sporicidal mechanism was assumed to involve a two-step: (1) the hydrophobic binding of surfactants in the herbs onto the spore coat destroys its protein, and (2) the acid then penetrates into the interior, generating unstable growth conditions.

Authors

  • Won-Il Cho
    CJ Foods R&D, CJCheiljedang Corp., Suwon, Gyeonggi-do 16495 Korea.
  • Myong-Soo Chung
    2Department of Food Science and Engineering, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, 03766 Korea.

Keywords

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