Control of microbial growth, browning and lipid oxidation by the spice Aframomum danielli

Aframomum danielli

(family Zingiberaceae) for Listeria monocytogenes LCDC 81861 was 390 ppm. No viable cells were found after a 4 h exposure of Bacillus cereus (initial concentration 10³ cfu/ml) to 500 ppm of A. danielli (aqueous solution) when the concentration of untreated control cells was 3.9×10⁶ cfu/ml. The MICs of A. danielli for some food spoilage yeasts (Candida tropicalis, Hansenula anomala, Torulopsis candida and Kluveromyces thermotolerans) ranged from 100 to 200 ppm. Exposure of McIntosh apple slices at 25°C for 4 h to a crude powder of A. danielli (17000 ppm) and ascorbic acid (5000 ppm) produced comparative increased L* values and decreased a* values (antibrowning effect) as measured by reflectance spectroscopy. When crude antioxidant extract from A. danielli was added to refined soybean oil at 200 ppm, the antioxidant effectiveness (AE) was 70.7%, calculated from:

The AE for α-tocopherol was 46.1%.