The effect of enterococcal bacteriocins on selected foodborne pathogens

Sa？etak Enterococci have an important role in food fermentation and often exhibit probiotic properties. In this paper, their antimicrobial effect was investigated in vitro against the following reference strains and strains isolated from food: Listeria monocytogenes, Listeria ivanovii, Listeria innocua, Yersinia enterocolitica and Salmonella Typhimurium. The agar diffusion method was used, and the supernatants were neutralized and treated with protease. Enterococcus faecalis EF-101 showed strong inhibitory activity against all strains of Listeria as well as the Y. enterocolitica O:3 strain. The activity of the proteinaceous inhibitor was 1280 AU/mL. Further research should be carried out to assess the potential use of enterocin as a natural preservation agent in food protection