[Bacteriostatic effect and/or xylitol bactericide of crops on Listeria Monocytogenes]

Listeria monocytogenes has been considered as an emerging pathogen causing foodborne illness. In the search for an alternate route biocontrol propagation, xylitol has been proposed as a possible bacteriostatic and / or bactericide. Xylitol is a polyol derived from the hydrogenation of xylose monosaccharide of importance in the pharmaceutical industry for its anti-cariogenic effect. To check the possible effect of xylitol as bacteriostatic and/or bactericidal against Listeria monocytogenes, it was determined the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), the time minimum inhibition (TMI) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of xylitol solutions on Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7635. The agar diffusion method was applied, using xylitol solutions at concentrations of 0-10%, respectively, for the MIC. The TMI was determined by growth curves in trypticase soy broth with solutions 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 20% of xylitol, respectively, with an initial inoculum of 108 CFU per ml of Listeria monocytogenes in each solution. MIC observed was the solution 1% of xylitol; the TMI was 10 hours to concentrations of 1 to 10% and 7 hours to apply 20% xylitol. It was found that xylitol has bacteriostatic power on Listeria monocytogenes (p < 0.001), but not bactericide effect.