en تخصصي Special Original article Original article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><strong>Background: </strong>Essential Oils (EOs) are natural metabolic products of plants that contain a condensed chemical hydrophobic liquid compounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate inhibitory effects of EOs of <em>Cinnamon zeylanicum</em> and <em>Myristica fragrans</em> against <em>Brucella abortus</em> 544 inoculated in fresh Baladi cheese.<br> <strong>Methods:</strong> Fresh Baladi cheese was manufactured from experimentally contaminated milk with <em>B. abortus</em> 544 in combination of EOs of <em>C. zeylanicum</em> or <em>M. fragrans</em>. Cheese samples were periodically subjected to further microbiological surveys at different storage times (0, 1, 24, 48, 72, and 96 h). The inhibition zone diameter and Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) against tested strain were also determined. Statistical analyses were conducted by GraphPad Prism Statistical Software.<br> <strong>Results:</strong> The inhibition zone diameter of the paper disk were 9.5&plusmn;0.5 and 16&plusmn;0.57 mm at 1% concentration of <em>M. fragrans</em> and <em>C. zeylanicum</em> EOs, respectively; and 15&plusmn;0.28 and 21&plusmn;0.76 mm at 5% concentration of <em>M. fragrans</em> and <em>C. zeylanicum</em> EOs, respectively. The values of inhibition zone diameters were significantly (<em>p</em><0.0001) different between the two selected concentrations of 1% and 5% for the studied EOs. Also, anti-<em>Brucella</em> activity of <em>C. zeylanicum</em> was significantly (<em>p</em><0.0001) more than that of <em>M. fragrans</em> EO.<br> <strong>Conclusion:</strong> Due to the appropriate anti-<em>Brucella</em> activity, <em>C. zeylanicum</em> EO could be applied as an effective natural preservative in the production of fresh Baladi cheese. Conversely, using <em>M. fragrans</em> EO could not protect the fresh Baladi cheese against <em>Brucella</em>.<br> <br> <strong>DOI:</strong> 10.18502/jfqhc.8.1.5461</span></span></div> Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Myristica, Oils, Volatile, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Brucella abortus, Cheese 34 40 http://jfqhc.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1125-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 A. Al-Mariri ascientific@aec.org.sy 0000-0002-9586-6573 Yes Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, P.O. Box 6091, Damascus, Syria R. Ismail No Food Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria A. Allaham No Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, P.O. Box 6091, Damascus, Syria B. Alobeid No Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, P.O. Box 6091, Damascus, Syria L. Alhallab No Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, P.O. Box 6091, Damascus, Syria