• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.985-990
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• 1995

Grapefruit seed extracts(GFSE) have some unknown compounds which exhibit the antibiotic activities aganist microorganisms including bacteria and fungi. We have examined the effects of GFSE on the growth of Enterobacter pyrinus which was isolated from necrotic lesions of pear trees. During the cultivation, the growth of the bacteria was strongly inhibited at the low concentration(0.01%, w/w) of GFSE. Hydrophobic fraction extracted from GFSE by mixed solvents (chloroform : methanol : water, 1 : 2 : 0.8, v/v/v) had components which inhibited the growth of bacteria. There was, however, no inhibitory effect of GFSE on the activities of several enzymes including hexokinase, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase and succinate dehydrogenase. $O-nitrophenyl-{\beta}-D-galactopyranoside(ONPG)$, the artificial substrate of ${\beta}-galactosidase$ was hydrolyzed in the presence of GFSE, indicating that the membrane was pertubated by the GFSE. From the results it was suggested that the antibiotic activity of GFSE is due to the change of membrane permeability of cell. GFSE was fractionated by high performance liquid chromatography equipped with $C_{18}$ reverse phase column. Among active fractions, three peaks were identified as 1-chloro-2-methyl-benzene (o-toluene), N,N-dimethyl-benzenemethaneamine, 1-[2-(2-ethylethoxy)ethoxy]-4- (1,1,3,3-tetramethyl)-bezene, respectively, while the other three remained unidentified.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.263-270
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• 1995

In order to promote the prevention of microbial and enzymatic spoilage and to retain the freshiness, sweet persimmons harvested in Gyeongsangnam-do were treated with graperfruit seed extract(GFSE)-CaCO3 mixture and stored in the proper packaging conditions. A low concentration of GFSE showed effective growth inhibition of plant pathological bacteria and fungi, Enterobacter pyrinus and Fusarium sp., which were involved in the decay of fruits and vegetables. GFSE was stable to heat treatment; its antimicrobial activity was not changed by heat treatment upto 10$0^{\circ}C$. However, when the temperature was raised to 12$0^{\circ}C$, about 90% of total activity was retained within 30 min. GFSE was also highly stable to broad pH changes; its activity was not changed in the range of pH 2.0 to pH 12.0. The physiological function of cell membrane in the spores of Bacillus cereus and the hyphae of Fusarium sp. was destroyed by treating with GFSE. It was observed that treating sweet persimmons with GFSE minxture and storing them in strech-wrapped packages could prolong the greshness of sweet persimmons and reduce quality deterioration.