1Department of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
2Special Officer, VUTRC, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India
3Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
4Central University Laboratory, CAHS, TANUVAS, Madhavaram Milk Colony, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
*Corresponding author: P Kannan; E-mail: rajavet2002@gmail.com
Online published on 27 May, 2021.
The increased concern towards food safety led to application of natural extracts as antimicrobial agents to control food borne pathogens. The aim of the present study was to determine antimicrobial activity of the four essential oils viz., cinnamon bark, cinnamon leaf, clove bud and garlic oils against Listeria monocytogenes by agar well diffusion method. All these essential oils were characterized by Gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometer (GC-MS) to know the chemical constituents present in them. Out of these four oils, L. monocytogenes was found to be sensitive to cinnamon bark oil, followed by cinnamon leaf oil, clove bud oil and garlic oil. Further, all these oils were evaluated to know minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the cinnamon bark oil alone was found to be effective with a MIC of 1% against L. monocytogenes. The present study findings suggest that plant based natural extracts might be used as antimicrobial, flavouring and food biopreservative agent.
HIGHLIGHTS
Cinnamon bark oil at 2% and 1% showed minimum inhibitory activity concentrations against L. monocytogenes.
Organoleptic characteristics of foods were unaltered at 2% and 1% of Cinnamon bark oil.
Essential oils from plant source can be employed for food preservation and to encourage ‘green consumerism’.
Agar well diffusion method, Antimicrobial, Essential oil, Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)
