Abstract

Caffeine is a widely known food constituent. Coffee and tea are major sources of caffeine. However, there is little data about caffeine's antimicrobial activity. Although caffeine is safe for the consumer and suitable as an antimicrobial agent in food, ingesting a lot of caffeine will affect the body (>400 mg day^-1). As a result, legislation has defined the amount of caffeine to be used in various food products. In term of antimicrobial activity, caffeine at concentration from 62.5 to >2,000 μg•ml^-1 could inhibit bacteria. In addition, higher amount of caffeine (>5,000 μg•ml^-1) was found to inhibit mold growth.