Antimicrobial agents for food packaging applications

Antimicrobial packaging, an active packaging concept, can be considered an extremely challenging technology that could have a significant impact on shelf-life extension and food safety of meat and meat products. Use of antimicrobial substances can control the microbial population and target specific microorganisms to provide higher safety and quality products. Many classes of antimicrobial compounds have been evaluated in film structures, both synthetic polymers and edible films: organic acids and their salts, enzymes, bacteriocins, and miscellaneous compounds such as triclosan, silver zeolites, and fungicides. The characteristics of some antimicrobial packaging systems are reviewed in this article. The regulatory status of antimicrobial packaging in EU is also examined.

The antibacterial activity of selected fatty acids and essential oils was examined against two gram-negative (Pseudomonas fluorescens and Serratia liquefaciens) and four gram-positive (Brochothrix thermosphacta, Carnobacterium piscicola, Lactobacillus curvatus, and Lactobacillus sake) bacteria involved in meat spoilage. Various amounts of each preservative were added to brain heart infusion or MRS (deMan, Rogosa and Sharpe) agars, and the minimum inhibitory concentration was determined for each organism. Essential oils were analysed by gas-liquid chromatography to determine the concentration of selected components commonly found in spices. B. thermosphacta, P. fluorescens and S. liquefaciens were not affected by fatty acids, and generally overcame the inhibitory effect of essential oils after 24 h of exposure. Among the fatty acids, lauric and palmitoleic acids exhibited the greatest inhibitory effect with minimum inhibitory concentrations of 250 to 500 micrograms/ml, while myristic, palmitic, stearic and oleic acids were completely ineffective. For essential oils, clove, cinnamon, pimento, and rosemary were found to be the most active. The 1/100 dilution of those oils inhibited at least five of the six tested organisms. A relationship was found between the inhibitory effect of essential oils and the presence of eugenol and cinnamaldehyde.