Adsorption of bacteriocins by ingestible silica compounds

Bacteriocins including nisin, pediocin PO2, brevicin 286 and piscicolin 126 were adsorbed from culture supernates by various food-grade porous silica anti-caking agents and the food colourant, titanium dioxide. All the porous silica (calcium silicate or silicon dioxide) materials showed substantial capacity in adsorbing bacteriocin activities from the culture supernate and biological activity was recovered in the adsorbents. In contrast, the food colourant titanium dioxide adsorbed most of the bacteriocin activity from the supernate, with minimal biological activity retained in the adsorbent. Experiments with piscicolin 126 showed that optimum adsorption could be achieved with Micro-Cel E within 30 min, independent of the supernate pH (2.0-10.0). Piscicolin activity of up to 5 × 10⁷ AU g^-1 of Micro-Cel E was obtained after adsorption from culture supernates and the adsorbed piscicolin demonstrated substantial biological activity against Listeria monocytogenes in both broth and a milk growth medium.