Antibacterial activity of xanthorrhizol isolated from Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb. against foodborne pathogens

Xanthorrhizol, isolated from the ethanol extract of Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb., is a sesquiterpene compound with a molecular weight of 218. The aim of this study was to investigate the antibacterial activity of xanthorrhizol against foodborne pathogens. The antibacterial activity of xanthorrhizol was measured in terms of the MIC and the MBC. MICs and MBCs of xanthorrhizol against Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus were 8, 16, 8, 8, 16, 8 μg/ml and 16, 32, 16, 16, 16, 16 μg/ml, respectively. The bactericidal study, as determined by the viable cell count method, revealed that xanthorrhizol treatment at 4 X MIC reduced viable cells by at least 6 to 8 log for all six foodborne pathogens in 4 h. Xanthorrhizol maintained its antibacterial activity after thermal treatments (121°C, 15 min) under various pH ranges (pH 3.0, 7.0, and 11.0). These results strongly suggest that xanthorrhizol, conferring strong antibacterial activity with thermal and pH stability, can be effectively used as a natural preservative to prevent the growth of foodborne pathogens.