ANTIBACTERIAL EFFECT OF ESSENTIAL OILS AGAINST FOODBORNE MICROORGANISM ESCHERICHIA COLI, STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS, PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA AND CANDIDA ALBICANS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19629963Keywords:
antimicrobial effect, essential oils, foodborne pathogens, antibiotic resistance, in-vitro testingAbstract
The growing risk of antibiotic resistance has driven the scientific interest of alternative methods devel-opment suitable for treatment of animals and food products. Essential oils have been proven to be effective against various bacteria, yeasts and molds. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness of thyme, cinnamon, black pepper and mint essential oils against type strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli), Staphylococ-cus aureus (S. aureus), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeroginosa) and Candida albicans (C. albicans). Anti-microbial activity was determined by measuring the inhibition zones on Mueller Hinton agar. The essential oils were tested using a ten-fold decreasing concentration gradient (from 100% to 10%). Results showed lim-ited inhibition zones for P. aeruginosa to all tested essential oils. E. coli, S. aureus, and C. albicans were inhibited significantly, whereas the cinnamon and thyme essential oils were with highest antimicrobial effect. These findings highlight the potential of selected essential oils as natural alternatives for antimicrobial agents.
References
1. Adams, V., Johnson, A., Santos, F. & Santos, A. (2019). The effect of cinnamon essential oil on Escherichia coli. Experimental Biology, 33(S1), lb286–lb286. https://doi.org/10.1096/ fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.lb286.
2. Al-Bayati, F.A. (2008). Synergistic antibacterial activity between Thymus vulgaris and Pimpinella anisum essential oils and methanol extracts. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 116(3), 403–406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2007.12.003.
3. Alves, F.S., Cruz, J.N., de Farias Ramos, I.N., do Nascimento Brandão, D.L., Queiroz, R.N., da Silva, G.V., Dolabela, M.F., da Costa, M.L., Khayat, A.S., do Rego, J.A.R. & Barros Brasil, D.S. (2023). Evaluation of antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity effects of extracts of Piper nigrum L. and piperine. Separations, 10(1), 21. https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10010021.
4. Atki, Y., Aouam, I., Kamari, F., Nayme, K., Timinouni, M., Lyoussi, B. & Abdellaoui, A. (2019). Antibacterial activity of cinnamon essential oils and their synergistic potential with antibiotics. Journal of Advanced Pharmaceutical Technology and Research, 10(2), 63–67. https://doi.org/10.4103/japtr.JAPTR_366_18.
5. Burt, S. (2004). Essential oils: their antibacterial properties and potential applications in foods—a review. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 94(3), 223–253. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2004.03.022.
6. Chauhan, K. & Rao, A. (2024). Clean-label alternatives for food preservation: An emerging trend. Heliyon, 10(16), e35815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e35815.
7. Dorman, H.J.D. & Deans, S.G. (2000). Antimicrobial agents from plants: antibacterial activity of plant volatile oils. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 88(2), 308–316. https://doi.org/10.1046/ j.1365-2672.2000.00969.x.
8. Gómez-Sequeda, N., Cáceres, M., Stashenko, E., Hidalgo, W. & Ortiz, C. (2020). Antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities of essential oils against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and methicillin-re-sistant Staphylococcus aureus. Antibiotics, 9(11), 730. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics9110730.
9. Hurtado, R., Peltroche, N., Mauricio, F., Gallo, W., Alvítez-Temoche, D., Vilchez, L. & Mayta-Tovalino, F. (2020). Antifungal efficacy of four concentrations of the essential oil of Cinnamomum zeylanicum against Candida albicans. Journal of International Society of Preventive & Community Dentistry, 10(6), 724–730. https://doi.org/10.4103/jispcd.JISPCD_251_20.
10. Lopez, G. & Hernandez, A. (2022). Antifungal activity of thyme essential oil against Candida albi-cans biofilms: an in vitro study. Medical Mycology, 60(8), 1023–1031.
11. Mahboubi, M. & Kazempour, M. (2014). Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of pep-permint (Mentha piperita L.) essential oil. Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology, 36(1), 83–87.
12. Mihaylova, S., Tsvetkova, A., Stamova, S., Ermenlieva, N., Tsankova, G., Georgieva, E., Peycheva, K., Panayotova, V. & Voynikov, Y. (2025). Antibacterial effects of Bulgarian oregano and thyme essential oils alone and in combination with antibiotics against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseu-domonas aeruginosa. Microorganisms, 13(4), 843. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorgan-isms13040843.
13. Millezi, A.F., Caixeta, D.S., Rossoni, D.F., Cardoso, M.G. & Piccoli, R.H. (2012). In vitro antimi-crobial properties of plant essential oils Thymus vulgaris, Cymbopogon citratus and Laurus nobilis against five important foodborne pathogens. Food Science and Technology (Campinas), 32(1), 167–172. Available at: https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/3959/395940112025.pdf.
14. Nazzaro, F., Fratianni, F., Coppola, R. & De Feo, V. (2013). Essential oils and antifungal activity. Pharmaceuticals, 6(12), 1451–1470.
15. Okerman, L., Noppe, H., Cornet, V. & De Zutter, L. (2007). Microbiological detection of 10 quin-olone antibiotic residues and its application to artificially contaminated poultry samples. Food Ad-ditives and Contaminants, 24(3), 252–257.
16. Parzhanova, A., Yanakieva, V., Vasileva, I., Momchilova, M., Dimitrov, D., Ivanova, P. & Tum-barski, Y. (2023). Physicochemical, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties of three medicinal plants from the western Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria. Life, 13(12), 2237. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/life13122237.
17. Pinto, E., Pina-Vaz, C., Salgueiro, L., Gonçalves, M.J., Costa-de-Oliveira, S., Cavaleiro, C., Pal-meira, A., Rodrigues, A. & Martinez-de-Oliveira, J. (2006). Antifungal activity of the essential oil of Thymus pulegioides on Candida, Aspergillus and dermatophyte species. Journal of Medical Mi-crobiology, 55, 1367–1373.
18. Popova, T.P. & Bankova, R. (2016). Antimicrobial activity in vitro of essential oils from oregano (Origanum compactum L.) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.). International Journal of Current Mi-crobiology and Applied Sciences, 5(10), 57–68. https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2016.510.008.
19. Rusenova, N. & Parvanov, P. (2009). Antimicrobial activities of twelve essential oils against mi-croorganisms of veterinary importance. Trakia Journal of Sciences, 7(1), 37–43.
20. Raut, J.S. & Karuppayil, S.M. (2014). A status review on the medicinal properties of essential oils. Industrial Crops and Products, 62, 250–264.
21. Tsankova, G., Ermenlieva, N., Stamova, S., Nedelcheva, G., Laleva, K., Eguruze, K., Tsvetkova, A., Mihaylova, S. & Georgieva, E. (2025). Investigation of antibacterial activity of combinations of Thymus vulgaris essential oil and some conventional antibiotics. Bulgarian Chemical Commu-nications, 57(Special Issue A), 76–81.
22. Van, L., Hagiu, I., Popovici, A., Marinescu, F., Gheorghe, I., Curutiu, C., Ditu, L., Holban, A.M., Sesan, T. & Lazar, V. (2022). Antimicrobial efficiency of some essential oils in antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates. Plants, 11(15), 2003. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11152003.
23. WHO (2020). Antimicrobial resistance. World Health Organization.
24. Zhang, J., Ye, K.P., Zhang, X., Pan, D.D., Sun, Y.Y. & Cao, J.X. (2017). Antibacterial activity and mechanism of action of black pepper essential oil on meat-borne Escherichia coli. Frontiers in Microbiology, 7, 2094. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.02094.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 TRADITION AND MODERNITY IN VETERINARY MEDICINE
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
