Antibacterial activity of essential oil vapor for histamine-producing bacteria

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the antibacterial activity of essential oil vapors against histamineproducing bacteria Morganella morganii NBRC3848 and Raultella planticola NBRC3317. We measured the minimum inhibitory dose (MID) of 14 essential oils towards these two strains. Allyl isothiocyanate (AIT) and salicylaldehyde (SA) vapors showed higher antibacterial activity than the other 12 essential oil vapors. Both AIT and SA vapors suppressed growth of total aerobic bacteria and histamine-producing bacteria in bigeye tuna and mackerel meat during storage at 12(. These vapors also inhibited histamine accumulation in bigeye tuna meat and mackerel meat. Thus, application of AIT and SA vapors is e#ective for preventing increase of histamineproducing bacteria and histamine formation in fish meat.