Essential oils from citrus including oranges and lemons could act as natural anti-fungal agents for food, suggests new research from Spain.
The study, published in the journal Food Chemistry, reports that essential oils of lemon, mandarin, grapefruit and orange all exhibited anti-fungal activity against common food moulds.
Scientists from Miguel Hernandez University in Alicante wrote: “It seems that citrus essential oils could be considered suitable alternatives to chemical additives for use in the food industry, attending to the needs for safety and satisfying the demand of consumers for natural components.”
According to the researchers, essential oil from orange was the most effective against A. niger, with a 50 per cent reduction. Mandarins produced the best effects against A. flavus, with a 65 per cent reduction, and grapefruit came out on top against P. chrysogenum and P. verrucosum, with 48.1 and 48.3 per cent drops respectively.
The essential oils were found to be toxic to the mould.
The researchers wrote: “The main advantage of essential oils is that they can be used in any foods and are considered generally recognised as safe, as long as their maximum effect is attained with the minimum change in the organoleptic properties of the food.”
It was recommended that a good starting point for the food industry would be to look at using those citrus oils that are already being used as food flavours.
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