Investigating the Efficacy of Cinnamomum zeylanicum (Cinnamon) Essential Oil Against Bacterial Biofilm Growth on Common Kitchen Materials

According to the CDC, roughly 48 million people worldwide suffer from diseases related to foodborne pathogens each year; at this scale, food-related illness is ranked as one of, if not the top cause for human disease in North America. 

Contamination of food products can occur at any time during the many stages of food preparation; however, in the commercial and domestic kitchen, the most common source of contamination comes from contact with utensils and surfaces that have not been adequately sanitized. Whilst subpar cleaning procedures do account for some of the reasons why contaminants remain in the kitchen, one of the largest contributing factors of inadequate sanitation comes from the resilience of the average kitchen microbiome. Many common bacteria found in the kitchen are able to form a protective structure known as a biofilm, which in itself makes eradication difficult; however, this is also coupled with the growing trend of microbial resistance to disinfectants in general.

Combating bacterial resistance to disinfectants is a delicate balancing act. Whilst common sense would suggest employment of stronger (more concentrated) solutions, this actually has a counter-intuitive result; if there is survival of any inherently more resistant bacteria, this leads to the production of offspring that also have this resistance. The more resistant bacteria in the world, the more disinfectant resistance we have to deal with, and so the cycle continues. Additionally, there exists limitations in this method in the kitchen environment as we also need to be wary of the potential for ingestion of harsh chemicals if food is chemically contaminated. A better solution to the issue is the employment of novel disinfectants because bacteria will not have had the evolutionary history with a new cleaner to develop resistance. At present, many scientists are looking to alternative sources of anti-microbials, one of the most common sources being natural plant extracts. 

With the above in mind, our project aimed to test the efficiency of an alternative disinfectant with some proven track record; cinnamon essential oil extract. Our goals for this research aimed to tackle three compounding issues with relation to disinfectants and the fight against foodborne illnesses: 

1. Is cinnamon essential oil a viable disinfectant that is able to effectively combat the growth of bacteria found in the kitchen environment? If so, 

2. Is cinnamon essential oil still a viable disinfectant against these same bacteria if biofilm formation has occurred? If so, 

3. Can cinnamon essential oil be employed with equal effectivity around the kitchen, or does the surface material play an effect?