| Abstract
| - The aims of this work were to evaluate the effects of different concentrations of hexanal, (E)-2-hexenal, hexyl acetate, and their mixtures on the fate of pathogenic species such as Escherichiacoli, Salmonella enteritidis, and Listeria monocytogenes inoculated in model systems as well as theantimicrobial activity against the target species of the chosen molecules when added to the packagingatmosphere of inoculated fresh-sliced apples. The result obtained in this work pointed out the potentialuse of compounds such as hexanal, (E)-2-hexenal, and hexyl acetate for both the extension of shelflife and an improvement of hygienic safety of “minimally processed foods”. In fact, hexanal, (E)-2-hexenal, and hexyl acetate had a significant inhibitory effect against pathogen microorganismsfrequently isolated from raw materials (E. coli, S. enteritidis, and L. monocytogenes) when inoculatedin both model and real systems. In this last condition, these compounds, at the levels used (150,150, and 20 ppm for hexanal, hexyl acetate, and (E)-2-hexenal, respectively), displayed a bactericideeffect on L. monocytogenes and they exhibited significant extensions of lag phase of E. coli and S.enteritidis inoculated at levels of 104−105 CFU/g. Keywords: Pathogenic microorganisms; aromatic compounds; antimicrobial activity; fresh-slicedapples; safety
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