TITLE:
Plant Extracts and Essential Oils at Concentrations Acceptable to a Sensory Panel Inactivate Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 in Ground Pork
AUTHORS:
Cynthia H. Chen, John Marchello, Mendel Friedman, Sadhana Ravishankar
KEYWORDS:
Essential Oils, Ground Pork, Plant Extracts, Salmonella Typhimurium DT104, Sensory Panel
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.12 No.2,
February
26,
2021
ABSTRACT: A potential method to inhibit pathogenic bacterial growth in meat is
through the introduction of plant-derived antimicrobials. Because these
antimicrobials may also adversely affect the sensory characteristics of the
meat, the objectives of this study were 1) to define the appropriate
concentrations of olive extract, apple extract, oregano oil, and cinnamon oil
added to ground pork that are acceptable to a sensory panel, and 2) to
determine their antimicrobial activities against Salmonella Typhimurium
DT104 in inoculated ground pork. Plant extracts were evaluated against two
initial inoculum levels (6 and 4 log CFU/g of pork) of Salmonella.
Sensory tests showed that acceptable concentrations of oregano and cinnamon
oils were 0.5% and of olive and apple extracts were 3%, respectively. Ground
pork samples were inoculated with Salmonella, treated with
antimicrobials at various concentrations (0.1% - 0.5% cinnamon and oregano essential oils and 3% - 5% olive and apple extracts), and stored at 4°C for 7 days. Survivors
were enumerated at days 0, 3, 5, and 7. Cinnamon oil at 0.5% and olive extract
at 3% induced a 1.0 and a 0.9 log CFU/g (from 6-log CFU/g initial inoculum)
reduction, respectively, at day 7. At 3%, olive extract showed a 1.06 log CFU/g
maximum reduction of Salmonella from a 4-log CFU/g initial inoculum. Pork samples
containing oregano oil and apple extract did not show a significant reduction
compared to the control without the antimicrobials. The results indicate that
cinnamon oil and olive extract can potentially be applied at
consumer-acceptable concentrations against low levels of S. Typhimurium
DT104 in ground pork.