Efficient reduction in vegetative cells and spores of Bacillus subtilis by essential oil components-coated silica filtering materials.

Inactivation of bacterial spores is a key objective for developing novel food preservation technologies. In this work, the removal properties of filtering materials based on silica microparticles functionalized with essential oil components (EOCs) (carvacrol, eugenol, thymol, and vanillin) against Bacillus subtilis, a spore-forming bacterium, in two liquid matrices were investigated. The viability of vegetative cells and spores after treatment was also evaluated. The results exhibited marked removal effectiveness against B. subtilis vegetative cells and spores after filtration with the different silica supports coated with EOCs in either sterile water or nutrient broth, with reductions of 3.2 to 4.9 log units and 3.7 to 5.0 log units for vegetative cells and spores, respectively. The fluorescent viability images revealed the poor viability of the treated B. subtilis vegetative cells and spores due to damage to the cell envelope when coming into contact with the immobilized antimicrobials. The culture counts results revealed the great inhibitory capacity of the EOC-functionalized silica microparticles against B. subtilis vegetative cells and spores after a single filtration. Hence, the present work suggests the feasibility of using EOC-functionalized supports as filtering aids to enhance the microbial quality of liquid matrices with spore-forming microorganisms. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The developed antimicrobial-coated filters have shown remarkable removal properties against an important spore-forming bacterium in food industry. These filters may be used as a potential sterilization technique for preservation of different beverages alone or in combination with other mild-thermal or nonthermal techniques.