Antibacterial activity of different natural honeys from Transylvania, Romania

Honey is used in food industry and medicine due to its nutritive, therapeutic and dietetic qualities. The microbiological characteristics of 10 unpasteurized honey samples of known origin, collected from Transylvania beekeepers (Romania) were determined. The antibacterial activity of these types of honey against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella anatum, Salmonella choleraesuis, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis subsp. spizizenii and Listeria monocytogenes strains was studied. The most sensitive to the antibacterial activity were the two staphylococus strains (the largest diameter of inhibition zone was 18mm) and B. subtilis strains (13.5mm). The strains of B. cereus, E. coli, L. monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. were found to present resistance to some of the honey samples. Manna, sunflower and polyfloral honeys presented high antibacterial activity while acacia and linden honeys had a lower activity in terms of the number of sensible strains. Statistical analysis shows that the type of strains and the type of honey have influence on the diameter of inhibition.