Antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of liquid smoke and its potential application to bacon

- Antimicrobial (E. coli, S. choleraesuis, S. aureus and L. monocytogenes) and antioxidant activity of liquid smoke
- The smoked bacon with liquid smoke has oxidative stability.
- Reduction smoking process costs

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the liquid smoke antioxidant and antimicrobial capabilities and its implementation potential on bacon, due to its oxidizing stability. The liquid smoke presented an inhibitory effect on the Escherichia coli, Salmonella choleraesuis, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes microorganisms with minimal bactericidal concentration ranging from 7.5 to 15%. The liquid smoke's antioxidant activity presented 0.24 mg/mL of IC50. Regarding the fatty acids, there has been a significant increase (p < 0.05) of oleic acid and a decrease of the linoleic one after storage and consequently forming hydro peroxides, malonaldehyde and hexanal, especially when a greater dilution of liquid smoke was applied (1:2, smoke: water, v/v). Hexanal had not been detected up until 60 days of storage and it was noted that there was a progressive increase from 75 to 90 days of storage, correlated to the peroxides degradation (p < 0.05). The use of liquid smoke provided a 43% cooking time reduction (hours) in relation to the conventional system, reducing considerably the production processing costs.Industrial relevanceThe liquid smoke is an alternative to conventional smoking of meat products. The liquid smoke presented an inhibiting effect on Escherichia coli, Salmonella choleraesuis, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, showing also an antioxidant effect. In addition, liquid smoke reduced the processing time (hours) in about 43%, factor that can reduce significantly the costs related to the bacon productive process. With this kind of information, it will be possible to produce safer, economical and uniform smoked meat products using liquid smoke.