Publications by authors named "Palop A"

This study delves into an exploration of the antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties of the essential oils (EOs) of cinnamon, garlic, and onion on Enteritidis. Firstly, disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) techniques were employed to assess the antibacterial activity of the EOs. Additionally, the study explored the effect of these EOs on both initial cell attachment and 24 h-preformed biofilms.

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Microbial cells respond to sub-lethal stresses with several physiological changes to increase their chance of survival. These changes are of high relevance when combined treatments (hurdle technology) are applied during food production, as the cells surviving the first hurdle may have greater resistance to subsequent treatments than untreated cells. In this study, we analyzed if develops increased resistance to thermal treatments after the application of an acid shock.

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is a spoilage microorganism responsible for relevant product and economic losses in the beverage and juice industry. Spores of this microorganism can survive industrial heat treatments and cause spoilage during posterior storage. Therefore, an effective design of processing treatments requires an accurate understanding of the heat resistance of this microorganism.

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The antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of essential oil of clove against and Enteritidis were investigated. The chemical composition of the oil was characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Stock solution of the essential oil of clove was prepared in 95% (v/v) ethanol (EOC).

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In the food science field, the term "antimicrobial" basically refers to active substances of synthetic or natural origin, that are directly or indirectly present in a specific food, packaging material or food contact surface that affect the viability or the growth of microorganisms in that matrix [...

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Heterogeneity in the response of microbial cells to environmental conditions is inherent to every biological system and can be very relevant for food safety, potentially being as important as intrinsic and extrinsic factors. However, previous studies analyzing variability in the microbial response to thermal treatments were limited to data obtained under isothermal conditions, whereas in the reality, environmental conditions are dynamic. In this article we analyse both empirically and through mathematical modelling the variability in the microbial response to thermal treatments under isothermal and dynamic conditions.

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Biofilms represent a serious problem for food industries due to their persistence in processing surfaces, from which they can cause food spoilage or, even worse, lead to foodborne diseases. Microorganisms immersed in biofilms are more resistant to biocides. The search for natural effective alternatives for the prevention and the control of biofilms has increased lately.

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Consumers' demands for ready-to-eat, fresh-like products are on the rise during the last years. This type of products have minimal processing conditions that can enable the survival and replication of pathogenic microorganisms. Among them, Listeria monocytogenes is of special concern, due to its relatively high mortality rate and its ability to replicate under refrigeration conditions.

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The estimation of the concentration of microorganisms in a sample is crucial for food microbiology. For instance, it is essential for prevalence studies, challenge tests (growth and/or inactivation studies) or microbial risk assessment. The application of serial dilutions followed by viable counts in Petri dishes is probably the most extended experimental methodology for this purpose.

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The heat resistance of the bacterial spores of Moorella thermoacetica, Clostridium sporogenes, Geobacillus stearothermophilus and Bacillus coagulans was determined over a wide range of temperatures using the capillary method and thermoresistometer Mastia. The results showed that the two experimental methods gave similar heat resistance values excepted for Geobacillus stearothermophilus. The effect of temperature on thermal resistance was evaluated using the Arrhenius and Bigelow models.

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Decisions regarding microbial risk assessment usually have to be carried out with incomplete information. This is due to the large number of possible scenarios and the lack of specific data for the problem considered. Consequently, risk assessment studies are based on the information obtained with a small number of bacterial cells which are considered the most heat resistant and/or more capable of multiplying during storage.

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This contribution presents a mathematical model to describe non-isothermal microbial inactivation processes taking into account the acclimation of the microbial cell to thermal stress. The model extends the log-linear inactivation model including a variable and model parameters quantifying the induced thermal resistance. The model has been tested on cells of Escherichia coli against two families of non-isothermal profiles with different constant heating rates.

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Senftenberg is a pathogen agent causative of foodborne disease and it is considered the most heat-resistant serovar within this genus. Food industries use heat treatment and chemical antimicrobials in order to eliminate this microorganism in food, but consumers prefer natural antimicrobials as essential oils and their components. This study evaluates the combined effect of thermal treatments and different concentrations of -limonene nanoemulsion on the inactivation of () Senftenberg.

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The application of d-limonene in form of nanoemulsion has been proved to reduce dramatically the thermal resistance of Listeria monocytogenes in culture media. The present research shows very promising results on the application in food products. The thermal resistance of L.

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Heat resistance of microorganisms can be affected by different influencing factors. Although, the effect of heating rates has been scarcely explored by the scientific community, recent researches have unraveled its important effect on the thermal resistance of different species of vegetative bacteria. Typically heating rates described in the literature ranged from 1 to 20°C/min but the impact of much higher heating rates is unclear.

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The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of thermal treatments (isothermal or nonisothermal) combined with nisin, a natural antimicrobial, on the survival and recovery of Clostridium sporogenes spores. The addition of nisin to the heating medium at concentrations up to 0.1 mg liter(-1) did not reduce the heat resistance of C.

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The microbial safety and stability of minimally processed foods are based on the application of combined preservative factors. Since microorganisms are able to develop adaptive networks to survive under conditions of stress, food safety may be affected, and therefore understanding of stress adaptive mechanisms plays a key role in designing safe food processing conditions. In the present study, the viability and the sublethal injury of Listeria monocytogenes exposed to moderate heat (55 °C) and/or essential oil compounds (carvacrol and thymol, 0.

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The selection of a primary model to describe microbial growth in predictive food microbiology often appears to be subjective. The objective of this research was to check the performance of different mathematical models in predicting growth parameters, both by absorbance and plate count methods. For this purpose, growth curves of three different microorganisms (Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Escherichia coli) grown under the same conditions, but with different initial concentrations each, were analysed.

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Highly heat-resistant spore-forming Bacillus cause nonsterility problems in canned food and reduce the shelf life of many processed foods. The aim of this research was to evaluate the thermal inactivation of Bacillus sporothermodurans IIC65, Bacillus subtilis IC9, and Geobacillus stearothermophilus T26 under isothermal and nonisothermal conditions. The data obtained showed that B.

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Members of the genus Bacillus include important food-borne pathogen and spoilage microorganisms for food industry. Essential oils are natural products extracted from herbs and spices, which can be used as natural preservatives in many foods because of their antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties. The aim of this research was to explore the effect of the addition of different concentrations of thymol to the heating and recovery media on the thermal resistance of spores of Bacillus cereus, Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis at different temperatures.

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The present work evaluated the antibacterial effect of nanoemulsions from natural compounds d-limonene and nisin against Listeria monocytogenes in tryptic soy broth growth medium, chicken broth, and vegetable cream. Experiments were performed by means of optical density growth curves and studies of viability in culture media and foods. Stability of nanoemulsions was evaluated by a Mastersizer 2000 equipment.

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Yeasts are tolerant to acid pH values, are able to grow in anaerobic media and have minimum nutrition requirements. These capabilities enable them to survive and even grow in foods prepared from acid fruits or vegetables. Among yeasts, Candida is one of the genus most frequently isolated from fruit juices.

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the combined effect of a previous mild heat treatment (15 min at 55 ) with the use of antimicrobials, nisin and carvacrol, on the growth of Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella senftenberg. Natural antimicrobials, alone or combined with a previous mild heat treatment, affected the growth of these two serovars in Tryptone Soy Broth at 37 . Increasing concentrations of carvacrol had a significant effect on both growth rate and lag phase duration of both strains.

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In recent years, highly thermo-resistant mesophilic spore-forming bacteria belonging to the species Bacillus sporothermodurans have caused non-sterility problems in industrial sterilization processes. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of the heating medium characteristics (pH and buffer/food) on the thermal inactivation of B. sporothermodurans spores when exposed to isothermal and non-isothermal heating and cooling treatments and the suitability of non-linear Weibull and Geeraaerd models to predict the survivors of these thermal treatments.

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