A group of researchers from the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) found that extracts from peppers and guajillo chili inhibit pathogenic bacteria that deteriorate meat products and cause stomach diseases.
These extracts can be applied as a dip in food to prevent microbial growth in contaminated food, said the researcher at the National School of Biological Sciences (ENCB), Lidia Dorantes Alvarez.
However, Dorantes Alvarez said that it is necessary controlling the concentration of bioactive compounds to ensure the extracts effectiveness.
In vivo studies showed that the guajillo extract have higher antimicrobial activity in inhibiting pathogenic bacteria than peppers Capsicum annuum and Capsicum frutescens, reported the specialist.
Dorantes Alvarez said that this coincides with the fact that the extracts with the highest concentration of caffeic, ferulic, and p-coumaric phenolic acids, and its precursor, cinnamic acid (which are contained in the guajillo extract) were those that gave better results.
The researcher explained that each of the extracts presented antibacterial activity, the most effective, caffeic acid, is also found in plums, apples, peaches, blackberries and coffee.
The p-coumaric acid is also found in citrus and pineapple, while ferulic acid located in oranges, corn and various types of berries.
The IPN researcher said that they are concentrating in researching natural antimicrobials to prevent the growth of bacteria in food, as they have the advantage of generating “green nutritional labels”.
This is because they are extracts from edible plants that are generally considered safe and have no restrictions for adding them to food, said the specialist.
Since 1998, the group of researchers works on combating various bacteria by using chili extracts, a research that has produced eight international and national publications on the subject.
The extracts are in process of being patented, under the name of their inventors Lidia Dorantes, Humberto Hernandez Sanchez, Maria Eugenia Jaramillo and Gerardo Aparicio Ozores.
Source: Notimex
