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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fayetteville, Arkansas » Poultry Production and Product Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #358203
Research Project: Antibiotic Alternatives for Controlling Foodborne Pathogens and Disease in Poultry

Location: Poultry Production and Product Safety Research

Title: Eugenol as an antimicrobial wash treatment reduces Campylobacter jejuni in postharvest poultry

Author
item WAGLE, BASANTA - University Of Arkansas
item ARSI, KOMALA - University Of Arkansas
item SHRESTHA, SANDIP - University Of Arkansas
item UPADHYAY, ABHINAV - University Of Arkansas
item UPADHYAYA, INDU - University Of Arkansas
item BHARGAVA, KANIKA - University Of Central Oklahoma
item Donoghue, Ann - Annie
item DONOGHUE, DAN - University Of Arkansas

Submitted to: Journal of Food Safety
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/12/2019
Publication Date: 12/1/2019
Citation: Wagle, B.R., Arsi, K., Shrestha, S., Upadhyay, A., Upadhyaya, I., Bhargava, K., Donoghue, A.M., Donoghue, D.J. 2019. Eugenol as an antimicrobial wash treatment reduces Campylobacter jejuni in postharvest poultry. Journal of Food Safety. 39:e12704. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfs.12704.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jfs.12704

Interpretive Summary: Campylobacter jejuni infection in humans is strongly associated with the consumption of contaminated poultry products. Since decontamination of carcasses during poultry processing is crucial for controlling foodborne pathogens including C. jejuni, our study evaluated a natural approach utilizing eugenol as an antimicrobial wash treatment for reducing Campylobacter on chicken skin. This study also explored the potential use of nanotechnology to enhance the solubility and antimicrobial activity of essential oils. Our results demonstrate that eugenol significantly reduced Campylobacter on chicken skin when used as a wash treatment. Eugenol emulsions or nanoemulsions did not show any additional reduction in Campylobacter when compared to eugenol suspension. In conclusion, the application of eugenol wash treatments represent a safe, effective and natural approach for reducing Campylobacter on poultry products during processing.

Technical Abstract: This study investigated the efficacy of a Generally Recognized as Safe compound, eugenol (EG), as an antimicrobial wash treatment to reduce Campylobacter jejuni in postharvest poultry. The antimicrobial efficacy of EG was studied in suspension, emulsion or nanoemulsion delivery systems (2 trials per system). In each trial, chicken skin samples were inoculated with C. jejuni (~7.2 Log CFU/sample), washed in treatments (0, 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 1 or 2%) for 1 min, drip dried for 2 min and then processed at 0, 8 and 24 h of refrigerated storage (n=5 samples/treatment/time point). All doses of the EG suspension consistently reduced C. jejuni counts with the greatest reduction of >2.0 Log CFU/sample for the 2% dose (P<0.05). Eugenol emulsions or nanoemulsions did not provide any additional Campylobacter reduction when compared with suspension alone. These findings suggest that EG could be an effective postharvest intervention for reducing C. jejuni contamination on poultry products.