Title Development of thyme essential oil-based coatings and assessment of their antimicrobial activity
Authors Navikaite-Snipaitiene, Vesta ; Rutkaite, Ramune ; Ivanauskas, Liudas ; Jakstas, Valdas ; Fieseler, Lars ; Rüegg, Nadine ; Yildirim, Selçuk
DOI 10.1016/j.afres.2025.101367
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Is Part of Applied food research.. Amsterdam : Elsevier. 2025, vol. 5, iss. 2, art. no. 101367, p. 1-8.. ISSN 2772-5022
Keywords [eng] Thyme oil ; Coatings ; Vapor diffusion assay ; Antimicrobial activity
Abstract [eng] In this study, coatings composed of acrylic binder, starch sodium octenylsuccinate and essential oil (EO), as a volatile antibacterial agent were developed and applied to polypropylene films. Among various EOs tested, thymol exhibited the highest antimicrobial activity in agar diffusion assays, resulting in inhibition zone of 12.3 ± 1.2 to 40.0 ± 1.0 mm with Escherichia coli and 11.3 ± 0.6 to 88.0 ± 1.0 mm with L. monocytogenes. Based on these results, thymol was selected and incorporated in the coatings, and the antimicrobial activity of films with coatings containing various amounts of thyme EO (585 ± 30 – 2159 ± 112 µg/cm2) were assessed using both agar diffusion and vapor diffusion assays. Films with the highest amount of thyme essential oil (2159 ± 112 µg/cm2) exhibited significant antimicrobial activity in the agar diffusion test. In vapor diffusion assays the active films demonstrated a significant antibacterial effect, producing a log reduction of 2.3 log E. coli and 3.8 for L. monocytogenes. Studies on the release of thymol, the main antibacterial component of thyme EO, revealed a continuously release with a maximum concentration of 21.85±2.11 µg/cm3 achieved after 10 days. The results further indicated that only a very small proportion of the thymol in the coating was released during the storage period.
Published Amsterdam : Elsevier
Type Journal article
Language English
Publication date 2025
CC license CC license description