Essential oil nanoemulsions: antibacterial activity in contaminated fruit juices

Summary Many human acid tolerant bacterial and fungal pathogens can be transmitted through the consumption of the contaminated fruit juices. We aim to formulate essential oil nanoemulsions (basil, black seed, turmeric, clove & cinnamon), determine their ability to clear contamination by food borne bacterial pathogens from fruit juices. The antibacterial activity of the optimised formulations was tested in the fruit juices against bacterial pathogens causing gastrointestinal tract infections. The minimum bactericidal concentration ( MBC ) of clove emulsions ranged from 15.6 to 25 μL mL −1 . Cinnamon oil emulsion had an MBC ranging between 15 and 31 μL mL −1 . At MBC , cinnamon oil emulsions caused a 6log 10 decrease in viable counts by 8 h and maintained the sterility of fruit juices for 7 days at ambient temperature. Thus, clove and cinnamon microemulsions can be used as juice additives to control food borne bacterial pathogens and maintain the bacterial sterility of fruit juices.