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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Warmwater Aquaculture Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #256643
Research Project: Umbrella Project for Food Safety

Location: Warmwater Aquaculture Research Unit

Title: Identification of Natural Antimicrobial Substances in Red Muscadine Juice against Enterobacter sakazakii

Author
item KIM, T - Mississippi State University
item WENG, W - Mississippi State University
item SILVA, JUAN - Mississippi State University
item Shaw, Donna

Submitted to: Journal of Food Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/7/2010
Publication Date: 3/8/2010
Citation: Kim, T.J., Weng, W.L., Silva, J.L., Marshall, D.A. 2010. Identification of Natural Antimicrobial Substances in Red Muscadine Juice against Enterobacter sakazakii. Journal of Food Science. 75:M150-M154.

Interpretive Summary: Previous work showed the strong antimicrobial properties of muscadine byproducts against C. sakazakii (Cs). This work showed that even muscadine juice, heat treated, has the potential for inhibiting this pathogen. Thus, muscadine juice can be formulated in products to enhance the safety of juices and other products containing it.

Technical Abstract: Red muscadine (Vitis rotundifolia Michx.) juices with natural organic, phenolic acids and polyphenol compounds were tested against Cronobacter sakazakii. The concentration of total phenolic compounds of commercial baby juices ranged from 176.7 to 347.7 mg/mL. Commercial baby juices showed poor antimicrobial activity, reducing less than 1-log of C. sakazakii in juice samples for 2 h at 37 °C. Red muscadine juices, regardless of processing methods (filtration, pasteurization, and sterilization), achieved a 6-log reduction of C. sakazakii in the same time period (2 h). The mixture of synthetic organic acids (malic and tartaric acids) and polyphenolic acid (tannic acid) showed strong antimicrobial activity against C. sakazakii. Among synthetic organic acids, tannic acid was undetected in commercial baby juices. Tannic acid showed the highest antimicrobial activity (1.4- to 3.8-log reduction) against C. sakazakii, while malic and tartaric acids showed less than 0.5-log reduction. These results suggest that red muscadine juice could be utilized as a natural antimicrobial in baby food formulations to inhibit C. sakazakii.