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Fresh-cut spinach has been shown to have a bacteriostatic effect on Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19111 (Babic et al., 1997). A study was undertaken to determine if this effect is noted on other species of Listeria and to determine if the spinach or the natural microorganisms on the spinach was the cause of the bacteriostatic effect. Six species of Listeria was cultivated in pure tryptic soy broth, tryptic soy broth containing freeze-dried spinach powder, or broth containing mesophilic aerobic microorganisms (MAM) isolated from spinach powder. The cultures were incubated at 10°C for 6 days and growth measured daily. Growth data were analyzed as four factor general linear repeated measures mixed model with species, treatment, and day as the fixed effects. The fixed effects showed a significant interaction between treatment × day and day × species. Results indicated that both the spinach and MAM had an inhibitory effect on Listeria as noted by the maximum population at 6 days, which was 8.8 Log10 cfu/ml in control, 6.4 in spinach powder cultures, and 7.4 in mixed cultures (P < 0.05). Of the six Listeria species, three L. monocytogenes were affected similarly whereas the remaining three, particularly L. innocua, were affected differently. In conclusion, the bacteriostatic effect of fresh-cut spinach differs with Listeria species and the native microorganisms play a major role as competitors.
A study was undertaken to determine the inhibitory effect of freeze-dried spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) powder and its native mesophilic aerobic microorganisms (MAM) on the growth of six strains, representing three species, of Listeria in tryptic soy broth (TSB). The cultures were incubated at 10 °C and growth was measured daily. Both spinach powder and MAM inhibited growth; maximum populations at 6 days were 8.8 Log10 colony-forming units (cfu) per mL-1 in control, 6.4 in spinach powder cultures, and 7.4 in MAM cultures. These results indicated that growth of various Listeria species/strains was affected by the bacteriostatic effect of spinach powder and competitive effect of native microorganisms.
The population of Listeria monocytogenes inoculated on lightly processed spinach held at 5C or 10C remained constant for 9 days, whereas the populations of mesophilic aerobic flora, pseudomonas, and enterobacteria increased sharply. We studied the cause of the bacteriostatic activity of spinach leaves against L. monocytogenes. Listeria monocytogenes were inoculated at the concentration of 2 × 104 cells/ml in raw, autoclaved and vacuum filtration sterilized spinach macerates as well as in tryptic soy broth used as control. The concentrations after 24 hat 28C were 2 × 104, 4 × 107, and 4 × 105 cells/ml in respective spinach macerates and 4 × 108 cells/ml in tryptic soy broth. The anti-listeria activity was still present in spinach macerates sterilized by vacuum filtration but not in autoclaved macerates. In conclusion, the bacteriostatic activity against L. monocytogenes might be due to antimicrobial compounds present in spinach leaves or produced by the other microorganisms. Studies are being continued to identify the compounds involved in the anti-listeria activity.