The influence of temperature, salt and pH on the inhibitory effect of reuterin on Escherichia coli

The inhibitory effect of reuterin on Escherichia coli K12 was investigated at different conditions of temperature (10–30 °C), pH (4.5–6.5), and NaCl (0.5–3% (w/v)). The maximum specific growth rate as a function of the different environmental conditions was modelled with a polynomial model. At increasing temperatures, there was an increasing effect of reuterin, whereas neither pH nor salt showed interactions with the effect of reuterin. The model was validated against new experimental data and proved to perform satisfactorily based on the bias and accuracy factors.