Antimicrobial Effectiveness of Clove Oil in Decontamination of Ready-to-Eat Spinach ( L.).

Due to an increased demand for natural food additives, clove oil was assessed as a natural alternative to chemical disinfectants in produce washing. This study assessed the antimicrobial activity of 5 and 10% (/) clove oil-amended wash liquid (CO) using a zone of inhibition (ZIB) test and determined the time required to completely inactivate pathogenic bacteria using bacterial death curve analysis. A washing experiment was used to evaluate CO's ability to inhibit bacterial growth on inoculated RTE spinach and in the wash water. The findings showed that , Typhimurium, and recovery were completely inhibited within 5 min. and recovery were completely inhibited at 10 and 30 min, respectively. The ZIB test showed that 5% CO had the highest inhibitory effect on both Salmonella strains and with approximately 10 mm ZIB diameter. Additionally, 5% CO completely inactivated all bacterial strains on spinach samples and in the wash water except for . A total of 80 mg/L peracetic acid (PAA) resulted in >2log CFU/mL recovery on experimental washed samples. These findings suggest that 5% CO was highly effective in inhibiting microbial growth on RTE spinach, potentially contributing to sustainable food safety and shelf-life extension strategies.