Essential Oils in Food Pathogen Mitigation

Food safety is an increasingly important public health issue despite continuous improvements in food production techniques and hygiene. In industrialized countries, about 30% of people suffer from a food borne disease each year. Microbial activity is a primary mode of deterioration of foods and many microorganisms are responsible for such occurrences that contribute to loss of food quality and safety. Essential oils in Food Pathogen Mitigation is a highly educative book that reveals the uniqueness of natural sweet smelling flowers and herbs and the ability of essential oils extracted from such plants to mitigate food borne pathogens. It opens a promising alternative to the use of synthetic chemicals as food preservatives. Plant essential oils especially medicinal plants and those used in flavouring foods can proffer health and environment friendly solution to the contamination of food by food pathogens. This book also gives an experimental approach for the discovery of the bacteriostatic and bactericidal properties of a medicinal and insecticidal plant as well as waste product of a fruit that could be used for this purpose instead of being trashed.