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New Food Safety from Old Food Sources

By Pritzker | Ruohonen

New food safety techniques may come from very traditional sources. In recent studies by chemists at the Agricultural Research Service, spices such as oregano, cinnamon and cloves have been found to kill certain foodborne illnesses such as E. coli, Salmonella enterica, Campylobacter jejuni, and Listeria monocytogenes.

According to a press release issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, researchers are attempting to implement the bacteria and germ fighting power of the spices through edible films. According to the USDA, researchers are testing whether or not:

A thin, pliable, edible film for the future might be made of puréed spinach spiked with carvacrol, the compound responsible for oregano's ranking as a top fighter of E. coli in the Friedman study.
The scientists want to find out whether adding small squares of carvacrol-enhanced spinach purée film to bags of chilled, ready-to-eat spinach leaves would help protect this salad green against E. coli.

Chemist Mendel Friedman is leading the team of researches, who will also examine other uses of the botanical bacteria busters.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on July 14, 2008 (boomark / email).