title: Antimicrobial properties of plant essential oils and essences against five important food-borne pathogens.
abstract: The antimicrobial properties of 21 plant essential oils and two essences were investigated against five important food-borne pathogens, Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella enteritidis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes. The oils of bay, cinnamon, clove and thyme were the most inhibitory, each having a bacteriostatic concentration of 0.075% or less against all five pathogens. In general, Gram-positive bacteria were more sensitive to inhibition by plant essential oils than the Gram-negative bacteria. Campylobacter jejuni was the most resistant of the bacteria investigated to plant essential oils, with only the oils of bay and thyme having a bacteriocidal concentration of less than 1%. At 35 degrees C, L. monocytogenes was extremely sensitive to the oil of nutmeg. A concentration of less than 0.01% was bacteriostatic and 0.05% was bacteriocidal, but when the temperature was reduced to 4 degrees, the bacteriostatic concentration was increased to 0.5% and the bacteriocidal concentration to greater than 1%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, Queen Margaret College, University of Edinburgh Medial School, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Smith-Palmer
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fyfe
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects*; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000187:drug effects; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D005516:Food Microbiology; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000187:drug effects; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012477:Salmonella enteritidis / Q000187:drug effects; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D009822:Oils, Volatile