Abstract

VAPOUR PHASE ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF C. AURANTIUM ESSENTIAL OIL AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS IN CONTROLLING COMMON BREAD SPOILAGE MOLDS

*Rency Elizabeth Sunil and Karishma Desai

ABSTRACT

Most natural foods have a limited life and are perishable. The development of food preservation processes has been driven by the need to extend the shelf-life of foods. Several food preservation systems such as heating, refrigeration and addition of chemical preservatives are currently being employed. However, an increasingly negative consumer perception of synthetic food additives has spurred an interest in finding natural alternatives to the traditional solutions. Although originally added to change or improve taste, the antimicrobial activity of essential oils makes them an attractive choice for substituting synthetic preservatives. Essential oils are naturally occurring, easily degradable and cheaper than chemical preservatives. The current study identifies the antifungal property of volatile components of essential oil of orange (C. aurantium) against common bread spoilage molds Aspergillus niger, Penicillium chrysogenum and Rhizopus spp by the reverse petri plate method and studying its effect on whole wheat, brown and multigrain bread slices as a model system for active packaging. The study revealed that the essential oil of C. aurantium inhibited the molds significantly. Aspergillus niger, Penicillium chrysogenum showed greater sensitivity to the essential oil as compared to Rhizopus. Using bread in a modelling system helps in understanding the large scale and realistic application of the essential oil as a natural preservative and a potential component in developing new packaging systems (active packaging). However further experiments are needed to overcome problems rising from the strong aroma of essential oils, to find the best essential oils with acceptable aroma and high effectiveness to be used in combined technologies.

Keywords: Essential oil, volatile component, reversed petri dish, vapor phase, C. aurantium.