Abstract: The antibacterial activities of food preservatives including potassium sorbate, sodium diacetate, capryl monoglyceride, disodium ethylene-diamine-tetraacetate (EDTA), nisin, chitosan and ε-polylysine (ε-PL) against 12 meat spoilage strains such as 2 Bacillus circulans strains, 3 Bacillus subtilis strains, 3 Bacillus licheniformis strains, 2 Bacillus coagulans strains, 1 Hafnia alvei strain and an Enterococcus strain were investigated based on inhibitory rate and minimum inhibitory concentration. The results showed that seven food preservatives had inhibitory effect on all tested bacteria at different levels. They could be ranked in decreasing order of antibacterial activity as follows: nisin＞chitosan ＞ε-PL＞capryl monoglyceride＞EDTA ＞sodium diacetate＞potassium sorbate. Three bio-preservatives including nisin, chitosan and ε-PL had better antibacterial activity than other four chemical preservatives. In addition, the antibacterial activity of 7 preservatives exhibited great differences among species and among different strains from the same species.

Key words: food preservative, meat spoilage, antibacterial activity