Pre-Harvest Food Safety Concepts

Lipid-Caused Antagonism of the Bactericidal Activity of Thymol and Thymol-β-Dglucopyranoside Is Not Overcome by Emulsifiers

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Abstract

Strategies are sought to reduce the carriage and dissemination of zoonotic pathogens and antimicrobial resistant microbes within food-producing animals and their production environment. Thymol is an essential oil shown to be a potent bactericide in vitro but demonstration of its efficacy when fed to animals has been inconsistent, due largely to its lipophilicity which limits its passage and subsequent availability in the distal gastrointestinal tract. Conjugation of thymol to glucose to form thymol-β-D-glucopyranoside can decrease absorption of the conjugate, thereby promoting passage to more distal intestinal sites where pathogens primarily reside, yet in vivo efficacy of the conjugate remains suboptimal. It is possible that hydrolysis and absorption of thymol-β-D-glucopyranoside and free thymol may still have been rapid enough within the proximal small intestine to preclude their delivery to the cecum and large intestine. Considering that modern swine diets often contain 5 % or more fat, we hypothesized that even at 60 to 80 % apparent digestibility there may be passage of enough residual undigested lipid to the distal intestinal tract to sequester free or conjugated thymol within lipidic microenvironments, thereby limiting the availability and subsequent effectiveness of these biocides.

How to Cite:

Petrujkić́, B., Nisbet, D. J., Levent, G., He, H., Genovese, K. J., Anderson, R. C., Beier, R. C. & Harvey, R. B., (2019) “Lipid-Caused Antagonism of the Bactericidal Activity of Thymol and Thymol-β-Dglucopyranoside Is Not Overcome by Emulsifiers”, SafePork 13(1), 127-128. doi: https://doi.org//safepork.11221