A research on the inactivation effects of nepete flavida essential oil on some patogens inoculated into fresh cut parsley and lettuce

Aerial parts of Nepeta flavida was collected from Nacar Plateau (Osmaniye-Düziçi) and the essential oil of this species hydrodistillated with Clevenger. Parsley and lettuce leaves were inoculated with E. coli and S. aureus, seperately. Inoculated leaves were subjected to the different washing treatments (tap water, Acetic acid (1%), Citric acid (1%) and EO solutions (62,5 ppm, 125 ppm, 250 ppm, 500 ppm ve 1000 ppm) and different time intervals (10, 20 and 30 min). EO 1000 ppm seemed to be more effective dose than those of other essential oil treatments. Compared to the control, the population of S. aureus in the lettuce and parsley at 30 min of washing time decreased by 0,48, 1,45 ve 1,35 log cfu/g, and 0,36, 0,36 and 1,93 log cfu/g in the treatments of EO-1000 ppm, Acetic acid (1%) and Citric acid (1%), respectively. At the same washing cycle (30 min), E. coli population decreased by 1,4, 2,26 and 3,52 log cfu/g in the lettuce samples and by 1,73, 0,41 and 2,09 log cfu/g in the parsley samples with the treatments of with EO-1000 ppm, Acetic acid (1%) and Citric acid (1%), respectively.