The Evaluation of Antibacterial Effects of Essential Oil of Achillea in vitro and Food Model

The importance of food-borne disease and consumer demands for avoiding synthetic food preservatives shifted the research interest to natural food preservatives such as essential oils isolated from medicinal plants which have antimicrobial activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of Achillea millefolium essential oil as natural food preservative against foodborn pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella enteritidis which were inoculated into high fat mayonnaise (65%) and low fat mayonnaise (30%) and kept during storage at 4 oC for 6 months. The results showed that essential oils of Achillea millefolium had influence against all of the tested microorganisms in vitro, while Gram-positive bacteria was more sensitive to essential oil than Gram-negative bacteria. All of the pathogens did not grow in mayonnaise, whereas in the control sample, all of the microorganisms grew. The maximum cell counts of bacteria in low fat mayonnaise were approximately lower than the high fat mayonnaise and resistance to inactivation of microorganisms appeared to be greater in high fat mayonnaise than in low fat mayonnaise. Also low fat and high fat mayonnaise in BS samples exhibited antimicrobial properties against tested species during storage. By way of conclusion, the essential oil of Achillea millefolium would lead to control food pathogen organisms as a natural food preservative and therefore, it can be used as natural preservative in food industry.