Antifungal effect of cinnamon essential oil against Penicillium oxalicum on rice noodles.

Plant essential oils have been extensively investigated for their application in food industry due to their broad antimicrobial spectrum and safety. However, rare studies investigated their application in decontaminating rice noodles from fungal contamination. In this study, the cinnamon essential oil was screened out among 12 species of plant essential oils, and its antifungal activity against Penicillium oxalicum isolated from rice noodles was investigated. Our study revealed that cinnamon essential oil inhibited the spore germination in a concentration-dependent manner, and a dosage of 0.025% (v/v) could entirely disable the spore germination. The disruption of the fungal plasma membrane was evidenced by the change of plasma membrane permeability and the leakage of cellular components. The cinnamon essential oil in vapor phase (0.00625% [v/v]) could totally inhibit the growth of fungi inoculated on rice noodles. In addition to the potential application in inactivating fungi germination on rice noodles, this study also demonstrated the feasibility of cinnamon essential as an environmental disinfectant. This study is the first report that cinnamon essential oil has been studied for decontaminating rice noodles from fungal contamination with P. oxalicum, which not only broadens the application field of plant essential oil but also provides an alternative approach for rice noodle preservation.