Abstract
Hydrogen peroxide is used in Japan as bleaching or sterilizing reagent to fish-paste products and boiled noodle. On the other hand, hydrogen peroxide is also used as oxidizing reagent in the field of organic chemistry. These are suggesting that oxidation or decomposition of the food components and production of abnormal substances in food may be given by treating with hydrogen peroxide. Accordingly, the study was carried out on the inhibition effects of Escherichia coli K-12 (E. coli) with oxidation products of 12 kinds amino acids which were produced by treatment with hydrogen peroxide. Namely, 2g of each amino acid was oxidized with 40ml of 5% hydrogen peroxide at 37°C for a week and then filled up to 200ml with water after the hydrogen peroxide was decomposed with manganase dioxide.
The growth of E. coli was inhibited by the presence of the oxidation products of glycine, L-histidine, L-leucine and L-tryptophan, respectivly. The effects of the other eight kinds of amino acids were also examined, however, these oxidation products affected little on the growth of E. coli.
