Antibacterial Activity of Mentha spicata L. Essential Oil Against Two Multi-resistant Pathogenic Strains Isolated from Meat Products

Due to its high levels of protein, vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients, meat consumption is important for human growth, development, and maintenance of health. However, this composition could make the meat an important vector of many harmful agents. In fact, pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Staphylococcus aureus, could contaminate meat products, and thus cause foodborne diseases. In addition, due to many factors as missuse and overconsumption of antibiotics in both humans and animals, we are witnessing the emergence and dissemination of antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria. The research of new products of natural origin constitutes an important axis of research wideworld. In this study, we extracted an endemic aromatic plant wildly distributed in Morocco, Mentha spicata L. and evaluated its antimicrobial activity against two multi-resistant pathogenic strains (E. coli. and S. aureus) isolated from meat products. This activity was evaluated using the usual techniques of diffusion on agar and macro-dilution for the determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration. The yield was 0.89%. Regarding the aromatogram, we found that zones of inhibition diameters were exceeding 19 mm for S. aureus, 11 mm for E. coli. CMI was 25% for E. coli, and 100% for S. aureus. Furthermore, we noted a bactericidal effect against E. coli and bacteriostatic for S. aureus. These results lead to the conclusion that Mentha spicata L. essential oil could be considered as natural preservatives for foods from microbial spoilage in the food industries, also they can serve to inhibit or prevent the growth of food-borne pathogens.