en Food Safety and Hygiene Food Safety and Hygiene پژوهشي Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><strong>Background:</strong> The aim of this study was to investigate antimicrobial effect of <em>Zataria multiflora </em>Boiss essential oil (EO) against six fish spoilage bacteria for evaluation of its potential utilization in the preservation of minimally processed fish products.<br> <strong>Methods: </strong>Firstly, GC-MS analysis of the EO was performed to determine its chemical composition. Then, antibacterial effect of the EO in a range of 0.031 to 4 mg/ml was tested against different fish spoilage bacteria such as <em>Aeromonas</em> <em>hydrophila</em>, <em>Pseudomonas</em> <em>aeruginosa</em>, <em>Pseudomonas</em> <em>fluorescens</em>, <em>Shewanella putrefaciens</em>, <em>Escherichia coli</em> and <em>Bacillus</em> <em>subtilis</em> by broth microdilution method to determine minimum inhibitory (MIC) and minimum bactericidal (MBC) concentrations.<br> <strong>Results:</strong> GC-MS results showed that phenolic components such as carvacrol (51.55%) and thymol (25.49%) were predominant constituents of the EO. <em>Zataria multiflora</em> Boiss EO exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against all tested bacteria. <em>Shewanella Putrefaciens</em> was the most sensitive bacteria with MBC value of 0. 5 mg/ml.<br> <strong>Conclusion: </strong>According to the results, this EO could be used as an important natural alternative to prevent bacterial growth in food specially seafood products to preserve them against bacterial spoilage.</span></span></div> &nbsp; Zataria multiflora, Essential oil, GC-MS analysis, Microdilution method 220 225 http://jhehp.zums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-51-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Saber Barkhori-Mehni Barkhori@um.ac.ir 100319475328460010037 100319475328460010037 No Department of Food Hygiene and Aquaculture, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran. Saeed Khanzadi khanzadi@um.ac.ir 100319475328460010038 100319475328460010038 No Department of Food Hygiene and Aquaculture, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran. Mohammad Hashemi hashemimd@mums.ac.ir 100319475328460010039 100319475328460010039 Yes Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Mohammad Azizzadeh Azizzadeh@um.ac.ir 100319475328460010040 100319475328460010040 No Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.