Effectiveness of Some Natural Antimicrobial Compounds in Controlling Pathogen or Spoilage Bacteria in Lightly Fermented Chinese Cabbage

• Autores: Yasuhiro Inatsu, M. L. Bari, Susumu Kawasaki, Shinichi Kawamoto
• Localización: Journal of food science, ISSN 0022-1147, Vol. 70, Nº 9, 2005
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This study was designed to evaluate the bactericidal or bacteriostatic effect of chitosan, an allyl isothiocyanate (AIT) product, and nisin for the artificially inoculated pathogenic bacteria (Escherichia coli, Salmonella Enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes) or natural microflora of fermented Chinese cabbage. Addition of 0.1% chitosan decreased the population of pathogens from 0.7 to 1.7 log colony-forming units (CFU)/g after 4 d of storage at 10 °C. The bactericidal activity of chitosan was found to be stronger than that of nisin (0.05 mg/g). Addition of 0.2% of the AIT product (containing AIT and hop extract) exhibited a bacteriostatic effect. However, a combination of AIT product and chitosan enhanced bactericidal efficacy against L. monocytogenes. The addition of chitosan or AIT product was observed to suppress the populations of mesophilic and coliform bacteria during storage at 10 °C for 4 d. Moreover, the use of chitosan or the AIT product did not change the sensory quality of the lightly fermented vegetable. Therefore, these results suggest that chitosan or the AIT product could be useful to improve the microbial safety and quality of lightly fermented vegetable.