abstract
- A previous investigation from our research group has revealed that lemon balm and spearmint hydroethanolic extracts present high inhibitory capacity in vitro against S. aureus. Raw milk cheeses have exhibited moderate prevalence of S. aureus, thus imposing a safety issue for consumers. In this sense, our work aimed to evaluate the antibacterial effect of lemon balm and spearmint extracts against S. aureus in goat’s raw milk cheeses during maturation, and to characterise the survival kinetic parameters of this pathogen by extended Bigelow models.
- B.N.S. acknowledges the financial support provided by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) through the PhD grant SFRH/BD/137801/2018. The authors are grateful to the EU PRIMA programme and FCT for funding the ArtiSaneFood project (PRIMA/0001/2018), and to FCT for their financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020 and UIDP/00690/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021). Gonzales-Barron acknowledges the national funding by FCT, P.I., through the Institutional Scientific Employment Programme contract.