Antibacterial, Antifungal, Antimycotoxigenic, and Antioxidant Activities of Essential Oils: An Updated Review (original) (raw)
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Environmental and Microbial Biotechnology, 2020
Fungi are among the most devastating pathogens which their infections can cause food spoilage and mycotoxin production. These detrimental effects caused by fungi can negatively impact foodstuffs, economics and health. Another harmful factor is oxidation process, which causes food degradation. Antioxidants inhibit or delay the substrate oxidation. In order to avoid food spoilage, contamination, destruction, and oxidation and minimize the harmful effects of synthetic food preservatives, there is a growing interest to apply plant-based materials in food industry. It has been established that plants possess antifungal, antimycotoxigenic, and antioxidant activities as they contain various bioactive compounds. The essential oils (EOs) and plant extracts have been shown to act against fungal pathogens. Therefore, EOs and plant extracts are considered as natural, safe and effective agents to preserve foodstuffs and safeguard health.
Potential Antifungal Activity of Essential Oils and Their Application in Food Preservation
Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research
The quality of food is highly affected by different types of biological, chemical, and physical contaminants. Microbial contaminations that are transferred through direct or indirect pathways such as through saliva, pest droppings, blood, or fecal matter affect the quality of food worldwide. Food can be spoiled by bacteria as well as fungus. The fungal microbes secrete toxins to intoxicate the food material rendering it unfit for consumption. The objective of the present review is to explore the application of essential oil (EO) as potent antifungal agent and thus good sources of food preservative. We have reviewed previously published papers on antimicrobial activity of EOs. The antimicrobial activity of these natural plant products has been assayed by different approaches. Apart from their activity against microbes, the other beneficial effects of these plant products such as antioxidant activity and enhancing the food quality are also observed by various groups of scientists all ...
Foods
A novel alternative to synthetic preservatives is the use of natural products such as essential oil (EO) as a natural food-grade preservative. EOs are Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), so they could be considered an alternative way to increase the shelf-life of highly perishable food products by impeding the proliferation of food-borne pathogens. The mounting interest within the food industry and consumer preference for “natural” and “safe” products means that scientific evidence on plant-derived essential oils (EOs) needs to be examined in-depth, including the underlying mechanisms of action. Understanding the mechanism of action that individual components of EO exert on the cell is imperative to design strategies to eradicate food-borne pathogens. Results from published works showed that most EOs are more active against Gram-positive bacteria than Gram-negative bacteria due to the difference in the cell wall structure. In addition, the application of EOs at a commercial scale h...
Functional Role of Essential Oils as Antimicrobial and Antioxidat Agents in Food Industry: A Review
Essential oils (EOs) possess both antimicrobial and antioxidant activities in food systems. Variations in EOs effectiveness were dictated by their components, effective concentrations, intrinsic factors of food composition as well as extrinsic factors such as storage temperature. The antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of EOs are a result of the presence of phenolic components at high concentrations. EOs could have better effectiveness than single component because these constitutes could act additively or even synergistically in EOs. EOs have antimicrobial activity against wide range of microorganisms and their mode of action is related to disintegration of cellular membrane integrity followed by inactivation of other microbial cells components. The antioxidant mode of action for EOs is related to neutralization free radicals and peroxide decomposition in particularly when tested in meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables. The high effectiveness of EOs indicates that they could replace the synthetic food additives. This scientific review summarizes the most recent studies about effectiveness of EOs as antimicrobial and antioxidant agents to be used in food industry.
2011
The aim of this research was to evaluate the in vitro antimicrobial activity of seven essential oils against four different bacterial and five fungal strains that are involved in food poisoning and/or food decay: Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium culmorum, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus brasiliensis, using two methods: agar disc diffusion method and disc volatilization method. The majority of the selected essential oils presented inhibitory activity against all the microorganisms tested but essential oils of oregano, thyme and clove proved to develop the best antibacterial and antifungal activity both in direct contact and volatilization method and could be used for further investigation in active packaging of food.
Essential Oils as Antimicrobials
Madridge Journal of Food Technology, 2019
This paper is a review of essential oils and their use in foods, packaging materials and farm animals. Essential oils are aromatic oil liquids obtained from plant materials. They serve crucial roles as antioxidants, pathogen inhibitors and flavoring agents. Because of label appearance concerns, essential oils are increasingly used as food preservatives. Essential oils have a complex composition and properties that vary based on differences in field growth, postharvest and processing conditions. Chemical and physical properties of essential oils affect their ability to act as antimicrobials. The food matrix has a significant impact on the antibacterial properties of essential oils, based on factors like pH, fat and moisture content. Meat products have experienced broad application of essential oils as preservatives, while fish and seafood have seen limited use. Essential oils have been used to clean and preserve vegetables, rice and fruits. Food coatings and packaging materials have been treated with essential oils to enhance food preservation properties. Many factors influence the activity of essential oils in foods including synergism (vacuum packaging, pH, water activity, other preservatives and sodium chloride), antagonism (composition of food and sodium chloride) and additive effects. Many essential oils are regarded as safe, but under certain conditions, they may cause dermatitis and cytotoxicity. Challenges to the expanding use of essential oils as antimicrobials in the food industry include organoleptics, uniformity of composition, and emerging resistance of microbes.
Applied Sciences, 2020
Due to the increasing risk of chemical contaminations in the application of synthetic fungicides, the use of plant essential oils and extracts has recently been increased. In the present review, the antimicrobial potential of the most active plant-food essential oils in liquid and vapor phases has been reviewed. The volatile isothiocyanates, aldehydes, and phenols, including allyl isothiocyanate, carvacrol, thymol, and eugenol, are considered to be the predominant components of essential oils, possessing significant antimicrobial activities. These components alone or in mixture can be effective. Overall, the antimicrobial activity of aroma compounds depends on the plant species, concentration, and method of application. This review provides useful information about the inhibitory application of the most common plant-foods’ essential oils in liquid and vapor phases against the growth of pathogenic microorganisms. Essential oils (EOs) are promising natural antimicrobial alternatives i...
Antimicrobial Activity of Some Essential Oils-Present Status and Future Perspectives
Medicines (Basel, Switzerland), 2017
Extensive documentation on the antimicrobial properties of essential oils and their constituents has been carried out by several workers. Although the mechanism of action of a few essential oil components has been elucidated in many pioneering works in the past, detailed knowledge of most of the compounds and their mechanism of action is still lacking. This knowledge is particularly important for the determination of the effect of essential oils on different microorganisms, how they work in combination with other antimicrobial compounds, and their interaction with food matrix components. Also, recent studies have demonstrated that nanoparticles (NPs) functionalized with essential oils have significant antimicrobial potential against multidrug- resistant pathogens due to an increase in chemical stability and solubility, decreased rapid evaporation and minimized degradation of active essential oil components. The application of encapsulated essential oils also supports their controlle...
Antibacterial potential of essential oils from medicinal plants for food preservation: a review
Medicinal Plant Communications, 2021
Essential oils, also called volatile or ethereal oils, are compounds naturally present in plants. Several medicinal plants are sources of these essential oils extraction, besides different secondary metabolites that are produced, such as terpenoids, alcoholic compounds, aldehydes, ketone bodies and phenols. The essential oils usage as substitutes for synthetic preservatives in food has been gaining space in research due to the interest of the populationin consuming healthier products. Moreover, the industry seeks to attend the necessities of the consumers to produce foods with less synthetic additives, but ensuring the preservation of organoleptic characteristics and shelf life. This review aims to present the antibacterial activity of essential oils from medicinal plants and its use as a food preservative.
Antimicrobial activity of essential oils
Journal of Essential Oil Research, 2014
Of late, there is a rapidly growing demand of environmental friendly, safe preservatives for food preservation because some of the traditional food preservation techniques have undesirable effects on the quality of food products and the artificial preservatives are increasingly being banned. This has necessitated the need to exploit the natural biological substances from plants which are safe and are capable of preserving the food products. Antimicrobial is a chemical compound present in or added to food, food packaging, food contact surfaces or food processing environments that inhibits the growth of or inactivate pathogenic or spoilage causing microorganisms. Many plants contain compounds that have some antimicrobial activity, collectively referred to as "green chemicals". Volatile oils of many plants are known to have antimicrobial activity, which could probably act as chemical defense against plant pathogen. Among the essential oil components, the volatiles monoterpenes and aldehydes have attracted the recent interest of researchers and food industries for their use as food preservatives. Various herbs and spices have been found to have broad spectrum activity against a number of bacteria and fungi, hence showing their potential for their use in foods as antimicrobial additives. In this article, efforts have been made to present the information pertaining to various plant species especially essential oils having some antimicrobial compound, their antimicrobial activity, mode of action, application in food preservation and other related aspects.