The antibacterial eVects of Cinnamomum cassia essential oil (EO) and cinnamaldehyde were evaluated against single-and mixed-species cultivation of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and Listeria monocytogenes attached to stainless steel. A central composite rotational design with two variables and eleven assays was used to optimize the concentrations (0.00-1.00% v/v for the EO and 0.00-0.80% v/v for cinnamaldehyde) and contact times (1-21 min). The models generated were validated, and the eVectiveness of C. cassia EO and cinnamaldehyde was compared with that of commercially available chemical sanitizers. Cinnamaldehyde and C. cassia EO proved to be eYcient alternatives to commercial chemical sanitizers in the reduction or elimination of sessile bacterial cells. The activity of these natural compounds was, in most cases, equivalent or superior to that of the chemical sanitizers tested. However, L. monocytogenes was more resistant than EPEC to C. cassia EO and cinnamaldehyde, and the bacterial association in mixed-species bioWlms made them more susceptible to these compounds.

No abstract