New York - Clove, garlic, cinnamon, oregano, and sage may do more than just flavor food. Researchers at Kansas State University have found that these spices may help suppress the growth of bacteria known as E. coli 0157:H7 in uncooked meat.
E. coli 0157:H7 can cause gastrointestinal disease, including severe damage to the lining of the intestine. This infection can be potentially life- threatening in children, the elderly, and the immunocompromised.
Undercooked ground beef contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7 has been the cause of most illnesses associated with the bacteria, but any food, including vegetables grown in cow manure, raw milk, and improperly processed cider can be contaminated, according to a United States Food and Drug Administration food safety handbook.
The researchers, who presented their preliminary findings recently at the Institute of Food Technologists' 1998 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, found no spice that was able to completely eradicate E. coli 0157:H7, but a few were able to inhibit growth of the bacteria.
When uncooked hamburger meat was mixed with E. coli 0157:H7, and 7.5% of either powdered clove, cinnamon, garlic, oregano or sage, clove was found to have the most potent effect. It reduced the bacteria by more than 99%. Cinnamon reduced it by 80%; garlic by 75%; oregano by 50%; and sage by 37%.
To see how spices would affect contaminated fermented meat, the researchers added a 1% mixture of three spices: garlic, clove and cinnamon, to salami contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7. This mixture resulted in only a slight reduction of the bacteria. But when they added a 7.5% mixture of garlic and clove, 99% of the E. coli 0157:H7 was killed.
But these statistics are not as impressive as they sound, researcher Erdogan Ceylan said. Ceylan assisted Drs. Daniel Y.C. Fung and Donghyun Kang with the research.
"You have to be careful. Even if you reduce (E. coli) by 99%, still you have enough to make people sick," said Ceylan. In a statement, the Institute of Food Technology notes that it only takes a few bacteria to cause disease.
The effectiveness of certain spices in controlling bacteria such as E. coli 0157:H7 probably helps to explain the traditional popularity of these spices in warmer climates. "If you look at India, China, and the Middle East," he speculates, "people probably first put in spices for flavor and then they found they could keep the product a little bit longer."
In spite of their results, the researchers caution consumers to always use safe food handling processes to reduce the risk of foodborne disease.
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