Efficacy of purified bacteriocin of “Brevibacillus laterosporus TK3” against Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus in Chicken

In the present investigation the biopreservative effect of bacteriocin of Brevibacillus laterosporus TK3 was investigated in raw chicken. Bacteriocin producing strain has been isolated from “Tatwakhar”- a flour prepared from seeds of Indian Horse Chestnut (Aesculus indica). Bacteriocin of Brevibacillus laterosporus TK3 showed strong antagonism against food spoilage/pathogenic bacteria viz. Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. The bacteriocin was purified and molecular weight of this novel bacteriocin was found to be 6 kDa. This purified bacteriocin with specific activity 34,482.0 AU/mg was applied in raw chicken and minced chicken against L. monocytogenes and S. aureus which showed the positive results in controlling the growth of these deadly pathogens. Purified bacteriocin was found successful in controlling the growth of L. monocytogenes up to 7th day which is almost at par with the results achieved with chemical preservative i.e. sodium nitrite. Further, purified bacteriocin restricted the growth of S. aureus up to 5th day whereas chemical preservative was able to control the growth of S. aureus up to 3rd day. The results found in these experiments deal with application of bacteriocin as biopreservative in chicken as an alternative to chemical preservative are quite encouraging and satisfactory.