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Published on: April 11, 2016
Natural antimicrobial oligosaccharides in the food industry
Xuewu Liu1, Xingfei Li1, Yuxiang Bai2
1The State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi 214122, China; School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi 214122, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Safety and Quality Control in Jiangsu Province, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
Abstract:
An increase in the number of antibiotic resistance genes burdens the environment and affects human health. Additionally, people have developed a cautious attitude toward chemical preservatives. This attitude has promoted the search for new natural antimicrobial substances. Oligosaccharides from various sources have been studied for their antimicrobial and prebiotic effects. Antimicrobial oligosaccharides have several advantages such as being produced from renewable resources and showing antimicrobial properties similar to those of chemical preservatives. Their excellent broad-spectrum antibacterial properties are primarily because of various synergistic effects, including destruction of pathogen cell wall. Additionally, the adhesion of harmful microorganisms and the role of harmful factors may be reduced by oligosaccharides. Some natural oligosaccharides were also shown to stimulate the growth probiotic organisms. Therefore, antimicrobial oligosaccharides have the potential to meet food processing industry requirements in the future. The latest progress in research on the antimicrobial activity of different oligosaccharides is demonstrated in this review. The possible mechanism of action of these antimicrobial oligosaccharides is summarized with respect to their direct and indirect effects. Finally, the extended applications of oligosaccharides from the food source industry to food processing are discussed.
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