In our study, WPIG-based coating was detected to have a
bacteriostatic effect against both microorganisms (Table 3),
whereas a bactericidal effect was only detected for the S.
aureus microorganism on the 30th day, with no equivalent
effect found for E. coli O157:H7 during the same time period.
The bacteriostatic effect against S. aureus was observed on the
7th day of storage (5.44 Log10 cfu/g), when the microorganism
count was reduced to the level of 2.48 Log10 cfu/g. A bactericidal
effect of the essential oil against S. aureus was found to
occur on the 30th day. The resistance of S. aureus to essential
oil was higher than that of E. coli O157:H7 on the 1st day of
storage. However, the inactivation level observed in S. aureus
between the 1st and 7th days of storage was 3.5 times greater
than that of E. coli O157:H7. The bacteriostatic effect of
WPIG-based coating on E. coli O157:H7 started from the 1st
day of storage and reached its highest level on the 30th day of
storage. On the 30th day, E. coli O157:H7 decreased to 3.93
Log10 cfu/g. Microbial growth was found to be the highest
in the K sample throughout the period of storage. Accordingly,
the highest increases in the average of the 1st and 30th days in
the K sample were found to be E. coli O157:H7 (7.11 Log10
cfu/g increased by 1.09 Log10 cfu/g) and S. aureus (7.27 Log10
cfu/g 0.98 Log10 cfu/g increased by 7.27 Log10 cfu/g). The
increase of E. coli O157:H7 levels in the K sample throughout
the storage period was higher than that of S. aureus. Moreover,
E. coli O157:H7 levels in the K sample were higher compared
to S. aureus levels in the same sample on the 7th and 15th days
of storage, although the case was the opposite on the 30th day
of storage. This was associated with an increase in acidity on
the 30th day. In our study, the increase in acidity determined in
the K sample throughout the storage period was higher than
that in coated samples. S. aureus was less affected by the
increase in acidity detected on the 30th day of storage in the
K sample. The more resistant microorganism to ginger essential
oil added to WPIG-based coating at the level of 1.5% (v/v)
was found to be E. coli O157:H7.