This project utilized plant-based antimicrobials to mitigate two leading foodborne pathogens – Salmonella and Campylobacter jejuni –at critical food safety control points in organic poultry and egg production and processing. Researchers tested the essential oils eugenol (cloves), carvacrol (oregano), trans-cinnamaldehyde (cinnamon), zingerone (ginger), cuminaledehyde (cumin), and allspice oil (mixture of compounds), and organic acids (caproic, caprylic, and β-resorcylic acids). Live poultry, meat, eggs, and food preparation surfaces (stainless steel, plexiglass) were inoculated with Salmonella or C. jejuni then treated with antimicrobials by:
• Supplementing feed or water for chicks with essential oils at 0.1-0.8%.
• Adding antimicrobials at 0.5-2% in water used for washing, scalding, or chilling poultry carcasses or meat parts.
• Edible coatings (pectin, chitosan, or gum Arabic) fortified with essential oils at 0.5-2% on eggshells or meat surfaces.
• Incorporating Pimenta (allspice) oil at 0.25% into ground turkey.
•Treating food preparation surfaces with 1% essential oil in water for 1-10 minutes.

Plant-based antimicrobials controlled C. jejuni and antibiotic-resistant Salmonella contamination of poultry meat and shell eggs more effectively than 200 ppm chlorine. Many treatments reduced pathogen counts by ≥2 log CFU (99%), mitigating foodborne illness risk by ≥90%. Essential oils down-regulated microbial genes for pathogen virulence including motility, attachment, quorum sensing, and stress resistance. Specific outcomes include:
• Treatment of food preparation surfaces with 1% eugenol, carvacrol, or trans-cinnamaldehyde in water disrupted established C. jejuni biofilms.
• Plant-based compounds in poultry processing water outperformed chlorine.
• In coating applications, pathogen counts were significantly reduced by chitosan but not pectin, and eugenol fortification enhanced efficacy of both materials.
• Pectin fortified with a mix of caprylic and capric acids and cuminaldehyde reduced Salmonella on shell eggs by 3.7 log CFU vs. 2.0-3.0 log CFU for each compound alone.
• Supplementing drinking water with 0.125% eugenol reduced C. jejuni gut colonization in chicks without affecting their growth.
• Poultry-derived lactobacilli significantly reduced C. jejuni on poultry meat surfaces and a literature review found that essential oils may favor lactobacilli.