Browsing by Author "Zeddini, Marwa"
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- Extraction of Eucalyptus globulus Volatiles and Sensitivity Tests on Foodborne PathogensPublication . Zeddini, Marwa; Carocho, Márcio; Vaz, Josiana A.; Khemakhem, MaissaFood spoilage is one of the main concerns in the food industry, as about one third of food that is produced is wasted before it even reaches the consumers. Essential oils are known for their very strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. Little is known about the changes that essential oils undergo when subject to different biotic and abiotic stress. Still, essential oils have been used to preserve foods by using them as food additives, although the European legislation does not allow their use, due to potential toxicity regarding human consumption. Thus, given the high number of volatile molecules present in essential oils, the use of these airborne molecules could be an interesting prospect, namely using these extracts as volatile preserving molecules. This work intends to compare the bioactivities (antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial) of Eucalyptus globulus Labill essential oils from leaves harvested in 2023, with the ones harvested from the same trees in 2022, both extracted through hydrodistillation. The essential oils were then screened against two foodborne fungi (Aspergillus brasiliensis and Aspergilus fumigatus) by placing these contaminants in airtight containers containing the Eucalyptus essential oils, to test if the airborne molecules present in the oils could inhibit the fungal growth. The findings show that overall, the changes in the bioactivities in the Eucalyptus essential oils in the two years is very low, with only some differences being found in the sensitivity of bacteria. The antifungal activity was maintained, as was the antioxidant activity for the DPPH analysis. In terms of inhibition of the fungi by the airborne molecules, both were inhibited at all stages of growth (immediately after plating, after 24 and 48 hours), although the essential oils seemed to inhibit to a better extent Aspergillus fumigatus. Overall, these results prove the antifungal activity of the volatile fraction of Eucalyptus essential oils, which could be used in the future as a volatile preservative for packed food.