Antimicrobial effect of some essential oils

Commercially available oils of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.), lemon-balm (Melissa officinalis L.), juniperberry (Juniperus communis L.), lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora Kunth), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) andcypress (Cupressus sempervirens L.) were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity. Analyses of the oils by GC-FIDand GC/MS revealed that the major constituents of these oils were linalool (23.1%) and linalyl acetate (23.1%) inlavender, citronellal (23.8%) and geranial (11.6%) in lemon-balm, α-pinene (29.2%) in juniper berry, neral (36.2%)and geranial (41.9%) in lemon verbena, 1,8-cineole (24.4%) and camphor (17.1%) in rosemary, α-pinene (31.1%)and δ-3-carene (18.6%) in cypress oil.The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils was evaluated on survival and growth of some microorganismspotentially dangerous to the safety of foods (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria innocua). The antimicrobialtests were carried out both in solid and in liquid media. E. coli was the most sensitive organism among thetested ones to the inhibition effect of the oils.