Efficacy of activated alginate-based nanocomposite films to control Listeria monocytogenes and spoilage flora in rainbow trout slice.

Essential oils of clove, coriander, caraway, marjoram, cinnamon, and cumin were tested for their antilisterial activity by application of agar diffusion assay (experiment 1). Marjoram essential oil (MEO) showed the highest inhibitory effect, followed by clove and cinnamon. Subsequently, these essential oils were incorporated to alginate/clay nanocomposite films and antilisterial effectiveness of the films was studied in a model solid food system during 12 days at 10 °C (experiment 2). The results revealed that the films with MEO were more effective against Listeria monocytogenes in the model step. Finally, alginate-clay film incorporating 1 % MEO was applied to inoculated trout slices during refrigerated storage (4 °C) for 15 days (experiment 3). The control and the wrapped fish samples were analyzed periodically for microbiological (L. monocytogenes, total viable count, psychrotrophic count) and chemical (TVB-N) properties. The results demonstrated that alginate-clay films enriched with 1 % MEO significantly delayed the growth of L. monocytogenes during the 15-day storage with final counts reaching 6.23 log CFU/g while the counts in control samples were significantly higher reaching 7.38 log CFU/g (p < 0.05). Furthermore, active films efficiently reduced total viable count and psychrotrophic count as well as TVB-N in the fish slice during refrigerated storage.