## 3 Results and Discussion
### Evaluation of the In Vitro Antimicrobial Activity of BACs
#### 3.1.2 Minimum Inhibitory Concentration  
The results presented in Table 2 show the antibacterial properties of the studied BACs against six food-borne and spoilage bacteria in a liquid phase using the micro-dilution method. The BAC that demonstrated the highest level of activity out of all the studied BACs was AITC. Following AITC were geraniol, \(\beta\)-citronellol, thymol, eugenol, and cuminaldehyde, respectively. It was observed that, using a concentration of AITC of 0.004 uL/mL, AITC exhibited the lowest MIC against both _St. aureus_ and _S._ Typhimurium. In contrast, \(\alpha\) limonene, (\(-\))-\(\alpha\)-Bisabolol, and BHT showed smaller antimicrobial activity as assessed by the MIC assay. Amongst the BACs, the AITC was selected as the most effective antimicrobial agent to control the growth of _P. lundensis_, _E. coli_, _St. aureus_, _L. monocytogenes_, _S._ Typhimurium, and _B. cereus_. This was primarily due to its consistently lower MIC values. On the other hand, the BACs geraniol, thymol, and -citronellol were less active against _P. lundensis_ when compared to AITC. Similar to the disc diffusion assay, BHT was found to be less effective in demonstrating MIC.  
[PERSON] et al. [52] conducted a study which demonstrated that thymol and carvacrol exhibited significant antimicrobial activity against _E. coli_ O157:H7, _St. aureus_, _Listeria innocua_, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Aspergillus niger, with MIC values of 125-250 ppm and 75-375 ppm for thymol and carvacrol, respectively. Their study also found that a synergistic effect of thymol and carvacrol was observed at a concentration of 50% and 50%. [PERSON] et al. [53] found that thymol and carvacrol showed similar results against a yeast (_Candida albicans_), a mold (_Aspergillus flavus_), and G+veB (_L. monocytogenes_). Nevertheless, thymol demonstrated significantly (\(p<0.05\)) greater effect than carvacrol against G-veB (_Salmonella_ choleraeusis). In addition, linalool exhibited activity against _Salmonella_ choleraseusis and _Candida albicans_. However, no inhibitory activity was found against these microorganisms with other BACs, including camphor, estragol, 1.8-cineole, \(p\)-Cymene, and limonene. In accordance with this study, [PERSON] et al. [54] found that citronellol exhibited effectiveness against both _E. coli_ and _St. aureus_, followed by citronellal, carveol,and carvone. The authors reported that the hydrophobicity, surface charge, and disruption of membrane integrity of _E. coli_ and _St. aureus_ were affected by citronello, leading to subsequent \(K^{+}\) leakage. [PERSON] et al. [55] treated minced pork with thyme EO (Thymus vulgaris) at concentrations of 0.3%, 0.6%, and 0.9%. The treated minced pork was then packaged using either vacuum or modified atmosphere packaging. Their results showed that the MIC was highest for thymol and carvacrol, followed by thyme EO, against four _Salmonella_ serovars (_S. Enteritidis, S. Typhimurium, S._ Montevideo, and S._ Infantis). In accordance with our results, they also observed that thymol exhibits greater antimicrobial activity than thyme EO and BACs such as _p_-Cymene, cinnaldehyde, and eugenol. Furthermore, [PERSON] et al. [56] conducted a checkerboard assay and revealed the synergistic effect of BACs, including carvacrol and nisin, against _L. monocytogenes._ The current study concluded that natural BACs exhibited better antimicrobial activity against food-borne pathogens and spoilage microorganisms compared to synthetic BHT.