Nematicidal Activity of Organic Food Additives

Organic food additives are popular in various spheres of human activity: the food industry, agriculture, veterinary and human medicine, the chemical industry, and other sectors. Due to the relatively short time of their breakdown in the environment, their non-toxicity to various organisms in certain concentrations, and their large annual amounts of production, application, and influx into the environment, it is an important task to study their influence on ecology. To help reduce toxic pressure on the environment, we studied the influence of 32 organic food additives on larvae of the nematodes Strongyloides papillosus, Haemonchus contortus, Muellerius capillaris, which are parasites of the digestive tracts of ruminants. This article presents the results of in vitro studies of organic food additives (acetic, propionic, lactic, sorbic, adipic, fumaric, malic, citric, ascorbic, and dehydroacetic acids, sodium formate, calcium formate, potassium acetate, calcium acetate, sodium diacetate, calcium propanoate, sodium lactate, potassium sorbate, sodium sorbate, calcium sorbate, trisodium citrate, monosodium glutamate, sodium dehydroacetate, sodium benzoate, potassium benzoate, calcium benzoate, biphenyl, dibutylhydroxytoluene, hexamethylenetetramine, 2-phenylphenol, natamycin, and nisin) on nematode larvae at various stages of their development. Propionic acid and 2-phenylphenol, used in the food industry, exerted notable nematicidal effects on larvae of S. papillosus, M. capillaris, and H. contortus: 1% concentrations of the substances killed 85% of these larvae, except H. contortus, which were tolerant to 2-phenylphenol in 52% of cases. Other tested food additives at 1% concentrations could not kill more than 70% of invasive nematode larvae in 24 h. The research determined various degrees of toxicity of the studied substances to invasive (third age) and non-invasive (first and second age) larvae, which are related to a decrease in the feeding intensity of parasitic nematodes on the stage of third age larvae. Thus, some organic food additives, introduced into the environment with food wastes, are able to affect the vitality of certain nematode species to a varying extent.