Antibiotic Activities of Plant Compounds against Non-Resistant and Antibiotic-Resistant Foodborne Human Pathogens

摘要

As part of an effort designed to develop antimicrobial food formulations that will protect both the food and the consumer against pathogenic bacteria and viruses, we evaluated the bactericidal activities of ~300 plant essential oils, oil constituents, phenolic benzaldehydes, and benzoic acids, and polyphenolic catechins against the foodborne pathogens Bacillus cereus, Campy lob acter jejitni, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, and Staphylococcus aurens. This brief overview summarizes some of our results. The data show that many of these phytochemicals are highly active against both non-resistant and antibiotic-resistant bacteria a pH 7 buffer and in a pH 3.7 apple juice. To help define the mechanism of antibacterial effects of phytochemicals, we also describe exploratory studies on the spontaneous fluorescence (autofluorescence) and ATP release of ? coli, to assess the sub-lethal effects of carvacrol. Future studies should define their antimicrobial effectiveness in human foods and animal feed and as disinfectants of surfaces of fruits and vegetables and of non-food items such as cutting boards.