Marwa El Badry Mohamed, Ahmed Salem Sebaei, Nada Mohammed Mahmoud, Nada Abdulla Mohammed, Hiba Abdelmunam Hassan, Reham Refaat Abdel-Aal
Food preservatives are essential for maintaining the safety and quality of food products. Nisin and natamycin are natural food preservatives extensively used in the food industry to enhance various food products' shelf life and safety. Nisin, a polycyclic antibacterial peptide, is effective against a broad spectrum of Gram-positive bacteria, including foodborne pathogens and spoilage organisms. On the other hand, natamycin, a polyene macrolide antifungal agent, exhibits strong efficacy against molds and yeasts, without affecting bacteria, thus preserving the natural microbial balance in fermented foods and other products susceptible to fungal contamination. Furthermore, determining food preservatives precisely is essential to guaranteeing food safety and quality. Due to the low concentrations used from these preservatives and the possibility of interference from food matrices during analysis, sensitive and accurate analytical techniques are required for the analysis of nisin and natamycin. Both electrochemical and chromatographic techniques enable rapid, sensitive, and precise analysis. This review highlights the research results in the last twenty-four years and methodological advancements and compares the sensitivity, accuracy, and practical applicability of these techniques to provide insight into the usefulness and suitability of electrochemical and chromatographic techniques for monitoring nisin and natamycin levels for regulatory compliance and food quality control. Moreover, it suggests future research directions to improve the efficiency and reliability of these analytical techniques.
