Essential Oil of Common Thyme as a Natural Antimicrobial Food Additive

U ovom smo radu analizirali antimikrobno djelovanje eteričnog ulja timijana na odabrane mikoorganizme (Fusarium sp., Armillaria mellea, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Buttiauxella sp., Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli K-12, soj E.coli Z koji proizvodi AmpC, soj E. coli klonalne grupe KM ST131 što proizvodi ESBL, te E. coli 1138). Za određivanje je antimikrobnog učinka eteričnog ulja timijana korištena metoda difuzije agara. Rast je svih testiranih bakterija bio inhibiran pri koncentracijama eteričnog ulja većim od 1 %, dok je rast gljivica bio inhibiran pri koncentraciji od 10 %. U ovom je radu dokazano da eterično ulje timijana uspješno suzbija rast bakterija uzročnika kvarenja hrane te višestruko otpornih bakterijskih sojeva što proizvode AmpC i ESBL, koji su nedavno prepoznati kao problem u javnom zdravstvu. Naši rezultati upućuju na to da bi se timijan mogao upotrijebiti umjesto polusintetičkih antimikrobnih spojeva kao inhibitor rasta višestruko otpornih bakterija, bakterija uzročnika kvarenja hrane, patogenih bakterija i gljivica.Antimicrobial activities of thyme essential oil against selected microorganisms, including Fusarium sp., Armillaria mellea, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Buttiauxella sp., Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli K-12, AmpC-producing E. coli Z, ESBL-producing E. coli strain of KM clonal group ST131, and E. coli 1138 were evaluated. The antimicrobial efficacy of thyme essential oil was determined using agar well diffusion assays. The growth of all tested bacteria was inhibited at thyme essential oil fractions higher than 1 %, while a fraction of 10 % was needed to inhibit the growth of fungi. We demonstrate that thyme essential oil has a promising activity against food spoilage bacteria, and also against multiresistant AmpC-producing and ESBL-producing bacterial strains isolated from food, which have recently been recognised as public health concerns. On the basis of our data, the thyme essential oil has a potential for use as a growth inhibitor of multidrug-resistant bacteria, and food spoilage and pathogenic bacteria and fungi, to replace commonly used semi-synthetic antimicrobial products