Are bacterial spores activated by High Pressure treatment at 20°C ?

International audience

Effect of high pressure on the antimicrobial activity and secondary structure of the bacteriocin nisin

International audience; Effect of high pressure (HP) treatment on the antimicrobial properties and the structure of nisin was evaluated. Nisin solutions at pH 2.8 or 6.1 were treated by HP at 500 MPa – 10 min – 20 °C and their antimicrobial potency was determined. It appeared that HP clearly impacted the antimicrobial activity of nisin, with respective activity loss of 22.5% and 49.9% at pH 2.8 and 6.1. Structural analysis of nisin by circular dichroism and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopies revealed that the decrease of nisin antimicrobial activity was likely due to the unfolding of the protein induced by HP. A loss of nisin β-turns structure, particularly significant at neutral pH,…

La biopréservation: une stratégie d’avenir pour la conservation des aliments

N° d'article 201511121820; La demande grandissante des consommateurs pour des produits alimentaires à teneur réduite en conservateurs pousse les industriels de l’agroalimentaire à rechercher des méthodes de conservation alternatives. Dans ce contexte, la bioprotection s’impose comme un procédé à fort potentiel. Cette technique consiste à inoculer sur les aliments des cultures de bactéries protectrices. Celles-ci, par l’intermédiaire de plusieurs mécanismes, vont inhiber la croissance de bactéries pathogènes et d’altération telles que Listeria monocytogenes et Salmonella. Cependant, cette technique n’a pas d’effet sur les spores bactériennes. Ainsi, l’objet central du projet de recherche ANR…

Biopréservation et hautes pressions : des outils pour la maîtrise des dangers microbiologiques dans les aliments

L’utilisation d’additifs conservateurs est souvent nécessaire pour assurer la sécurité microbiologique des produits carnés réfrigérés faiblement acides. Le projet ANR BLac HP (2014-2019) a étudié une nouvelle stratégie de stabilisation des produits carnés réfrigérés pour assurer le contrôle des flores indésirables à la fois végétatives et sporulées. Grâce à une approche pluridisciplinaire, les travaux ont montré que la combinaison de la biopréservation par des bactéries lactiques et d’un traitement hautes pressions permettait d’assurer la qualité microbiologique de dés de jambon cuits à teneur réduite en nitrite pendant toute leur durée de vie. Le traitement permet de plus une qualité senso…

Are bacterial spores activated by High Pressure treatment at 20°C ?

Effects of high pressure processing and biopreservation on the inactivation and the germination of spores of Bacillus and Clostridium

Bacterial endospores are one of the most resistant life form on earth. Their capacity to survive to decontamination processes and their potential pathogenicity represent a real problem for the food industry. Currently, the only way to prevent their development in foods is the application of thermal treatments or the use of preservatives. However, these two methods have negative impacts on the nutritional properties of foods and on the consumers’ health. High hydrostatic pressure (HP) is a non-thermal process widely used for commercial pasteurization of foods. However, this process has a very low effect on spores and has therefore to be combined with other decontamination processes to enhanc…

The role of water in bacteria spore resistance

Understanding the Effects of High Pressure on Bacterial Spores Using Synchrotron Infrared Spectroscopy

International audience; Bacterial spores are extremely resistant life-forms that play an important role in food spoilage and foodborne disease. The return of spores to a vegetative cell state is a three-step process, these being activation, germination, and emergence. High-pressure (HP) processing is known to induce germination in part of the spore population and even to inactivate a high number of Bacillus spores when combined with other mild treatments such as the addition of nisin. The aim of the present work was to investigate the mechanisms involved in the sensitization of spores to nisin following HP treatment at ambient temperature or with moderate heating leading to a heterogeneous …