The antimicrobial efficacy of clove oil suspensions at 20, 50, and 100 micro l ml-1 was tested against peanuts inoculated with Aspergillus flavus. The inoculated peanuts were subjected to treatments of 5, 10, 15 and 20 min. by being washed with deionized water (control) and clove oil suspensions at various concentrations. The main components of the clove oil were then determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The treatment of peanuts with clove oil at 50 and 100 micro l ml-1 caused significant reductions in the A. flavus population compared to the control. The maximum logarithmic reductions of A. flavus were obtained at levels of 6.7 logarithmic units on peanuts treated with 50-100 micro l ml-1 clove oil. In addition, A. flavus recovery after 3 days of storage was not detected. Three constituents, eugenol (89.8%), caryophyllen (4.7%) and vanillin (2.9%) representing 98.4% of the clove oil were identified. The results suggest that the use of clove oil suspensions can be used to enhance the microbial safety of peanuts.
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