Olive Leaf Extracts as a Source of Antibacterial Compounds against <i>Campylobacter</i> spp. Strains Isolated from the Chicken Food Chain

oleh: Jose Manuel Silvan, Rodrigo Casado, Marisol Villalva, Soledad Diaz, Alba Gutierrez-Docio, Esperanza Guerrero-Hurtado, Marin Prodanov, Adolfo J. Martinez-Rodriguez

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-10-01

Deskripsi

<i>Campylobacter</i> is the leading cause of bacterial foodborne gastroenteritis worldwide. Infections by <i>Campylobacter</i> in humans are generally caused by consuming contaminated foods of animal origin, with poultry, especially chicken, being the main reservoir. The high prevalence of <i>Campylobacter</i> in chicken carcasses and the growing resistance to the most widely used antibiotics has driven EFSA to propose a regulation (2017/1495) containing new microbiological criteria to regulate the presence of <i>Campylobacter</i> in broiler carcasses. In this context, there has been an increase in the number of research aimed at the search for new tools to reduce <i>Campylobacter</i> incidence in chicken meat. The objective of the present work was to evaluate the antibacterial activity of two olive leaf extracts (A y B) against eleven <i>Campylobacter</i> spp. strains (<i>C. jejuni y C. coli</i>) isolated from chicken food chain. Results showed that all <i>Campylobacter</i> strains had resistance to at least one of the eight antibiotics evaluated, and 46% of them were antibiotic multi-resistant. HPLC analysis showed that hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein were the major phenolic compounds in extracts A and B, respectively. Extract A showed a significant antibacterial activity against all <i>Campylobacter</i> strains tested in the present work. The use of a pure standard of hydroxytyrosol confirmed the contribution of this compound to the antibacterial effect of extract A. These results suggest that olive leaves could be used as a source of bioactive compounds to obtain extracts with antibacterial activity against <i>Campylobacter</i> spp potentially applicable to reduce the presence of <i>Campylobacter</i> in chicken carcasses.