Cinnamon, preservatives make cider safer.

During one recent Christmas holiday season, Daniel Fung tried some cinnamon in his apple cider and liked the combined flavor. Later, he found that the cinnamon kills E. coli O157:H7 bacteria that can appear in cider.

Fung had already studied the benefits of spices against E. coli in meat. But there were practical limits. He thought people would probably not put cinnamon in their hamburger, but he believed that cinnamon would be a good spice for a liquid drink. Fung and colleagues (Kansas State University, (Department of Animal Sciences and Industry, Manhattan, KS 66506) also found ways to combine cinnamon with two preservatives--sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate--to kill pathogens in cider. The two preservatives are used primarily to kill fungi, but studies indicate they could kill bacteria.

Tests showed that after combining apple juice with levels of 0.3% cinnamon and 0.1% of either other preservative, E. coli in cider was reduced to undetectable levels after three days of incubation. Other tests showed that adding cinnamon alone or preservatives alone reduced the E. coli, but not as effectively as a combination treatment.

Cinnamon alone gradually reduced E. coli O157:H7, and the extent of reduction increased with the concentration of cinnamon in apple juice. The combination of cinnamon and sodium benzoate showed a better reduction of E. coli O157:H7 in apple juice when compared with sodium benzoate alone.

A similar result occurred when potassium sorbate was substituted for sodium benzoate, although the sodium benzoate was found to be the more effective of the two preservatives. Fung's experiments started with a deliberately high level of contamination to see how effective the cinnamon and preservatives would be. At lower and more realistic levels of contamination, he expects to find no E. coli after one or two days with cinnamon in combination with benzoate or sorbate.

Kansas State researchers are working on a combination of carbonation and cinnamon to reduce E. coli O157:H7, and they have encouraging results. Pasteurization would be safer, but pasteurization along with cinnamon gives a better taste and adds another hurdle by using spice to kill pathogens.

Cinnamon's ability to kill pathogens can extend to other food products such as cinnamon buns, apple sauce with cinnamon, pies and bakery products. And if cinnamon is effective against as resistant a pathogen as E. coli O157:H7, it should also be potent against Salmonella and Listeria.

Further information. Daniel Fung; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone].