The potential application of plant essential oils as natural food preservatives in soft cheese
2001
Smith-Palmer, A. | Stewart, J. | Fyfe, L.
Investigations were carried out to assess the efficiency of four plant essential oils; bay, clove, cinnamon and thyme as natural food preservatives. The effect of the plant essential oils at concentrations of 0.1, 0.5 and 1% was studied in low-fat and full-fat soft cheese against Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enteritidis at 4 degrees and 10 degrees C respectively, over a 14-day period. The composition of the cheese was shown to be an important factor in determining the effectiveness of the plant essential oils. In the low-fat cheese, all four oils at 1% reduced L. monocytogenes to less than or equal to 1.0 log10 cfu ml(-1). In contrast, in the full-fat cheese, oil of clove was the only oil to achieve this reduction. Oil of thyme proved ineffective against S. enteritidis in the full-fat cheese, yet was equally as effective as the other three oils in the low-fat cheese, reducing S. enteritidis to less than or equal to 1.0 log10 cfu ml(-1) from day 4 onwards. It is concluded that selected plant essential oils can act as potent inhibitors of L. monocytogenes and S. enteritidis in a food product.
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