Essential Oils as Antimicrobials

Abstract

This paper is a review of essential oils and their use in foods, packaging materials and farm animals. Essential oils are aromatic oil liquids obtained from plant materials. They serve crucial roles as antioxidants, pathogen inhibitors and flavoring agents. Because of label appearance concerns, essential oils are increasingly used as food preservatives. Essential oils have a complex composition and properties that vary based on differences in field growth, postharvest and processing conditions. Chemical and physical properties of essential oils affect their ability to act as antimicrobials. The food matrix has a significant impact on the antibacterial properties of essential oils, based on factors like pH, fat and moisture content. Meat products have experienced broad application of essential oils as preservatives, while fish and seafood have seen limited use. Essential oils have been used to clean and preserve vegetables, rice and fruits. Food coatings and packaging materials have been treated with essential oils to enhance food preservation properties. Many factors influence the activity of essential oils in foods including synergism (vacuum packaging, pH, water activity, other preservatives and sodium chloride), antagonism (composition of food and sodium chloride) and additive effects. Many essential oils are regarded as safe, but under certain conditions, they may cause dermatitis and cytotoxicity. Challenges to the expanding use of essential oils as antimicrobials in the food industry include organoleptics, uniformity of composition, and emerging resistance of microbes.