Background: Bacillus cereus is a gram positive and spore-forming bacteria that often associated with food products such as meat, vegetables, soup, rice, and milk and other dairy products. 1 - 20% of total outbreaks of food intoxication in the world are caused by Bacillus cereus. There is an increasing interest in the use of plant-derived antimicrobial compounds as natural preservatives for foods such as Cuminum cyminum L. essential oil that inhibition of the growth of several pathogens by it has been reported in various articles.

Objective: The objective of this survey is evaluation of antibacterial effect of Cuminum cyminum L. essential oil on Bacillus cereus in a food model.

Methods: The essential oil of Cuminum cyminum plant was obtained by steam-distillation and analyzed by GC/MS. Then, effects of different concentrations of this essential oil (0, 50, 150, 300 and 450ppm) on growth of Bacillus cereus were evaluated in commercial barely soup in two storage temperature (10 and 25°C) at 12 intervals (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21 days).

Result: The logarithm of Bacillus cereus was significantly decreased by 300 and 450ppm EO concentration incubated at 10°C storage temperature and 450 ppm EO concentration incubated at 25°C storage temperature (p< 0.01).