Essential oil was extracted from peels of sweet orange fruits by supercritical technique and the resulting
compounds were analyzed by gas chromatography. After emulsifying with tween-20 in sterile water, the
antibacterial efficacy against Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, and
Staphylococcus aureus, which were inoculated on the surfaces of samples of stainless steel and plastic
cutting board pieces, was determined. Sterile water was used as control and two commercial detergents,
A and B, were used as comparative agents. Compared with control, more than 5-log reduction was
obtained against V. parahaemolyticus at 1% and S. typhimurium and E. coli at 2.5% of the essential oil. No
significant reduction (P 0.05) was obtained against S. aureus even at 5%. Antibacterial activities of the
essential oil and detergent B were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than detergent A and control. In
addition, significantly higher (P < 0.05) reductions were obtained on stainless steel than plastic cutting
boards. Our results showed that the extracted orange oil could effectively inactivate V. parahaemolyticus,
S. typhimurium, and E. coli but not S. aureus, on the food contact surfaces.