Role of Litsea cubeba Essential Oil in Agricultural Products Safety: Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Applications

Abstract

The essential oil from Litsea cubeba (LCEO) has good antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-insect properties, which gives it the potential for use as a natural additive to food resources and food products in order to prevent spoilage and extend shelf life. In this study the biological activity related to food preservation was observed. The main volatile organic compounds were geranial (39.4%), neral (29.5%), and limonene (14.3%). Antioxidant activity was 30.9%, which was equal to 167.94 µg of Trolox per mL of sample. Antimicrobial activity showed the strongest inhibition against Serratia marcescens by disk diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentrations MIC 50 and MIC 90 were the lowest for Micrococcus luteus with values 1.46 and 3.52 µL/mL, respectively. Antimicrobial activity of the LCEO vapor phase showed strong inhibition of microorganisms on apples, pears, potatoes, and kohlrabies. Over 50% of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and yeasts were inhibited by a concentration of 500 µL/mL. The inhibition of microorganisms was concentration dependent. Anti-insect activity was also strong, with 100% lethality of Pyrrhocoris apterus at a concentration of 25%. These results suggest that LCEO could be potentially used as a food preservative.

Microbiological Quality of Deer Meat Treated with Essential Oil Litsea cubeba

“…Fruit. was composed of 39.39% geranial, 29.49% neral, 14.29% α-limonene, 2.29% β-pinene, 1.89% sabinene, 1.89% 1,8-cineole, 1.69% α-pinene, 1.59% α-terpinolene and 1.32% 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, as major compounds adding up to 96% of the total profile [ 21 ].…”

“…They reported that LCEO was highly effective against Gram-negative bacteria and proposed a mechanism of action based on damages to the cell membrane and wall. Moreover, good inhibitory effectiveness against Gram-positive bacteria has been reported from a LCEO with similar composition [ 18 , 21 , 26 ], some studies even point to a slight higher sensitivity of Gram-positive bacteria to citral [ 27 ]. Conversely, other authors, testing a LC fruit EO containing 85% citral reported that Gram-positive bacteria were far less sensitive to LCEO than Gram-negative, although in both cases it was strongly dependent on the strain [ 19 ].…”

“…Food grade rapeseed oil was purchased from an authorised store. The EO was previously characterised by Borotová et al [ 21 ]. A total of 120 meat samples were analysed.…”

“…The interaction between the main and secondary components of the oil, which have a synergic effect on each other, is mainly responsible for the inhibitory activity of the essential oil [ 20 ]. At present, some information is available on the in vitro antimicrobial activity of LCEO against food spoilage bacteria [ 21 ], however little information is available regarding studies in real food systems. To our knowledge, this is the first study on the use of LCEO in meat preservation, and specifically in game meat.…”

Solvent-Free Microwave Extraction of Essential Oils from Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers. at Different Harvesting Times and Their Skin-Whitening Cosmetic Potential

“…Unlike other woody oil plants, L. cubeba is an economically important aromatic plant on account of its essential oil, with a lemon-like scent and pungent taste, which can be commercially extracted from the fruit, flowers, leaves, bark, and even roots by conventional hydrodistillation or steam distillation methods [ 2 ]. Although L. cubeba has been widely used in traditional medicine for a thousand years [ 3 ], its essential oil rather than kernel oil is still the main industrial export product with extensive use in the fields of food [ 4 , 5 ], medicine [ 6 , 7 , 8 ], cosmetics [ 9 ], and botanical insecticides [ 10 ]. China is the largest producer of L. cubeba essential oils in the world, with a total planting area of around 1440 thousand hectares, leading to about 140.1 thousand tons of essential oils, which is equivalent to nearly USD 0.14 billion.…”