Ancient plant oils seen fighting food pathogens

This natural ability of some ancient natural oils -- from geraniums, cloves, wild oregano, cinnamon and thyme, for example -- offers promise in finding alternatives to antibiotics used in animal feed, according to researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) who are leading the study in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada and the University of Guelph. The first focus of AAFC's research has been testing these oils as alternatives to dietary antibiotics in swine production. The results showed that many of the essential oils killed the "bad" bacteria without destroying the "good" bacteria in the intestinal tract.