Antibacterial and antioxidant activity of sour cherry kernel oil (Cerasus vulgaris Miller) against some food-borne microorganisms

Characteristic of Essential Oils Extracted from the Industrial-Scale Processing By-Products of Agro-foods

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Nowadays, more interest has been focused on the efficient use of agricultural and food processing post-products. The remaining wastes accumulate in large quantities, resulting in a burden on the environment. However, they possess potentially valuable compounds, making them suitable to recover essential oil from solid waste. This review evaluates the production of essential oils from apple, citrus fruits, sour cherry, corn, rice, wheat, and barley processing wastes, highlighting high levels of bioactive compounds such as tocopherols, phytosterols, and unsaturated fatty acids, which contribute to their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.

RECENT FINDINGS

Agro-food processing wastes are composed of biologically active compounds including essential oil with different functional characteristics such as antibacterial and anti-angiogenic properties. This could be due to the presence of bioactive compounds including phytosterols, tocochromanols, tocopherol, and carotenoids, as well as the natural antioxidants and the higher amount of unsaturated fatty acids. Agro-food processing by-products are a valuable source of essential oil, which is rich in mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fatty acids as well as bioactive compounds. Findings provide a reference for the development of healthy products and open a new horizon for innovative and profitable utilization of the wastes generated from the industrial-scale processing of agro-foods.

Fabrication of ZnO@Plant Polyphenols/Cellulose as Active Food Packaging and Its Enhanced Antibacterial Activity

To investigate the efficient use of bioresources and bioproducts, plant polyphenol (PPL) was extracted from larch bark and further applied to prepare ZnO@PPL/Cel with cellulose to examine its potential as an active package material. The structure and morphology were fully characterized by XRD, SEM, FTIR, XPS and Raman spectra. It was found that PPL is able to cover ZnO and form a coating layer. In addition, PPL cross-links with cellulose and makes ZnO distribute evenly on the cellulose fibers. Coating with PPL creates a pinecone-like morphology in ZnO, which is constructed by subunits of 50 nm ZnO slices. The interactions among ZnO, PPL and cellulose have been attributed to hydrogen bonding, which plays an important role in guiding the formation of composites. The antibacterial properties against Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were tested by the inhibition zone method. Our composite ZnO@PPL/Cel has superior antibacterial activity compared to ZnO/Cel. The antibacterial mechanism has also been elaborated on. The low cost, simple preparation method and good performance of ZnO@PPL/Cel suggest the potential for it to be applied as active food packaging.