Histamine poisoning is one of the main concerns in traditional cheeses which is mainly produced by decarboxylating bacterial strains during cheese ripening period. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of Rosmarinus officinalis essential oil (EO) on lactobacillus count and histamine amount in Lighvan cheese using HPLC method. Moreover, the chemical composition of EO was assessed using GC/MS. Cheese samples containing 0, 125 and 250 ppm of Rosemary EO were prepared. Afterward, lactobacillus count and histamine content of the samples were measured on days 0, 30, 90 and 150 of the ripening period. Alfa pinene (11.1%), Camphor (10.2%) and Limonene (5.9%) were detected as three main components of the rosemary EO. During the ripening period lactobacillus count in all EO-treated groups (125 and 250 ppm) was found significantly (p<0.05) lower than the control group. Moreover, histamine contents in the control group, and 125 and 200 ppm containing rosemary EO cheese samples were determined as 190, 170 and 51.04 mg/kg, respectively. It could be concluded that the addition of 125 and 250 ppm of rosemary EO could act as a natural preservative in traditional Lighvan cheese.
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