Sanitizing food contact surfaces by the use of essential oils

Abstract

Chemical sanitizers continue to be widely used by the food industry to disinfect food contact surfaces. However, as some chemical disinfectants have been reported to produce unhealthy byproducts, alternative and natural compounds need to be investigated. To this end, nine essential oils (EOs) were screened to develop a natural sanitizing solution (SAN) for disinfecting food contact surfaces. Once extracted, their antimicrobial activity and chemical composition were determined. An exploratory multivariate approach was used to investigate the relationships between the chemical and microbiological data sets. Among the tested EOs, Thymbra capitata EO, containing up to 93.31% oxygenated monoterpenes (mainly carvacrol), showed the strongest antimicrobial activity and thus was assayed as a potential SAN for food contact surfaces. To this end, a SAN consisting of 1% T. capitata EO was first validated according to the AOAC standard, which showed about an 8 log reduction for Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica after 30 and 60 seconds of contact time, respectively. Then, the SAN was evaluated at various concentrations, cleanliness conditions, and contact times on stainless steel, glass, and polypropylene surfaces for sanitizing purposes. The results showed that the SAN containing 2.5% of T. capitata EO applied for 10 min, reduced the levels of E. coli by more than 3 log and S. enterica by 1 log under clean working conditions on the three tested surfaces. These findings indicate that EOs can be used as natural disinfectants to decontaminate food contact surfaces, thus lowering the risk of the indirect transfer of bacterial pathogens to food or persons.

Antimicrobial efficacy of Thymbra capitata (L.) Cav. essential oil loaded in self-assembled zein nanoparticles in combination with heat

“…Thanks to its recognized antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, it can be used as a preservative for foodstuffs and formulations (Delgado-Adámez et al, 2017;Falcó et al, 2018;Neves et al, 2017).…”

Antimicrobial Coatings for Food Contact Surfaces: Legal Framework, Mechanical Properties, and Potential Applications

“…Food contamination by antimicrobial substances can be avoided with careful design of equipment/facilities and with appropriate cleaning/sanitation programs (Miller, ). For example, research on the mitigation of the contamination of food products by antimicrobial substances as a result of FCS sanitation processes has led to the development of cleaning programs that use natural essential oils as an alternative to chemically prepared disinfectants (Falcó, Verdeguer, Aznar, Sánchez, & Randazzo, ). However, although essential oils pose less of a health risk, they are still considered contaminants when they contact food products, because the essential oils affect the organoleptic characteristics of food, such as flavor and aroma (Vital et al., ).…”

The effect of essential oils and their combinations on bacteria from the surface of fresh vegetables

“…For example, Thymbra capitata essential oil, containing mainly carvacrol (93.31%) as oxygenated monoterpenes, exhibited strong antimicrobial activity. It was assayed as a potential sanitizing solution in food industry for food contact surfaces (Falcó, Verdeguer, Aznar, Sánchez, & Randazzo, 2019). Essential oils of Azadirachta indica and Litsea cubeba were recognized as promising and successful new antimicrobials with significant antimicrobial activity against the Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli , concerning possible applicability in food (Thielmann, Muranyi, & Kazman, 2019).…”