The antimicrobial effect of dissociated and undissociated sorbic acid at different pH levels.

The minimum inhibitory concentration of sorbic acid has been determined for Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. The inhibition was shown to be due to both undissociated and dissociated acid, and the effect of each has been calculated in accordance with a proposed mathematical model. Although the inhibitory action of undissociated acid was 10-600 times greater than that of dissociated acid, the latter caused more than 50% of the growth inhibition at pH levels above 6 for most of the organisms tested.