Mixtures of natural and synthetic antifungal agents

Antimicrobial agents are chemical compounds present in, or added to, foods that retard microbial growth or cause microbial death. The use of such agents is one of the oldest and most traditional food preservation techniques. Antimicrobial agents are somewhat arbitrarily classified as traditional and naturally occurring. Traditional antimicrobials are those that have been used for long time, approved by many countries as antimicrobials in foods or are produced by synthetic means, or are inorganic. Antimicrobial agents may be either synthetic compounds intentionally added to foods or naturally occurring, biologically derived substances (the so called naturally occurring antimicrobials), which may be used commercially as additives for food preservation as well as exhibiting antimicrobial properties in the biological systems from which they originate. However, as Davidson stated, antimicrobial agents now produced synthetically are also found in nature, including acetic, benzoic or sorbic acids.