en تخصصي Special Original article Original article <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>Background</strong>: <em>Listeria monocytogenes </em>is an important Gram-positive disease-causing bacterium existing in milk and dairy products. Inhibitory effects of<em> Mentha pulegium</em> essential oil at concentrations of 0.03, 0.015, and 0.0075% on growth of <em>L. monocytogenes</em> were studied in Iranian white cheese during 60 days of storage.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>Methods</strong>: Essential oil of <em>M. pulegium</em> plant, collected from north of Iran, was extracted by Clevenger apparatus and analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The antibacterial effects of the oil were evaluated by growth of the microorganism in control and treatment cheese samples<em>.</em> Also, sensory properties of the cheese samples containing different concentration of <em>M. pulegium</em> were determined. Statistical analyses were performed by ANOVA and Fisher&rsquo;s Least Significant Difference (LSD) procedure using SPSS 16.0 software.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>Results:</strong> GC/MS analysis showed that the major compounds of <em>M. pulegium</em> essential oil were pulegone (36.68%), piperitenone (16.88%) and 1,8 cineole (14.58%). In control group, <em>L. monocytogenes</em> grew in 7 days and then their growth decreased gradually during 60 days. But, in all treated samples there is a log reduction in bacterium count while the maximum growth lasted for 14 days with a significant difference (<em>p</em><0.05) compared with control samples. Although 0.03% concentration of mentha oil had the most strong antibacterial effects, but the samples with 0.015% essential oil had significantly higher organoleptic properties score comparing the other samples (<em>p</em><0.05).</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>Conclusion: </strong><em>M. pulegium</em> essential oil not only can improve organoleptic properties of cheese but also can reduce and postpone the growth of <em>L. monocytogenes </em>in this product.</span></p> Mentha pulegium, Oils, Volatile, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Listeria monocytogenes,Cheese 20 24 http://jfqhc.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-235-7&slc_lang=en&sid=1 E. Sadeghi No Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health (RCEDH), Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran A. Mohammadi No Department of Health, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran M. Jamilpanah No Islamic Azad University, Sari Branch, Mazandaran, Iran M. Bashiri moeinbashiry@gmail.com Yes Food Science and Technology Department, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran S. Bohlouli No Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran