Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XVII
Written by Adriana Laura MIHAI, Mona Elena POPA
Nowadays, essential oils are used in pharmaceutical, sanitary, cosmetics, agriculture and food industry because of the biological activity, notably antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant properties.Essential oils, or (EOs) for short, are natural compounds with a complex composition that contains volatile principles present in plants such as terpenes, terpenoids, phenol-derived aromatic components and aliphatic components.In food industry, it is crucial that the products to be supplied without any microbial contamination, but the biological efficacy of EOs to be used as antimicrobial agents in food system, depends on some factors as temperature, pH,appearance, load of microbial flora and the favorable environment.Studies demonstrated that the antimicrobial effects of EOs confirm structural and functional damages of membrane of bacterial pathogenic, resulting the leaking of the inner cell components, and eventually leading to the cell death (Cox et al., 2000). Usually, Gram-negative bacteria are less susceptible to antimicrobials, but this doesn’t mean that Grampositive bacteria are always more sensitive.Due to the fact that essential oils present compounds with antioxidant activity (phenolic compounds) it can be used in food industry as preservatives to prevent the spoilage of the products and to increase the shelf life.
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antimicrobial activity
