--- description: By processing mango pits instead of throwing them away, one University of Alberta researcher discovered a novel way to preserve food—and potentially combat dangerous bacterial... title: Tannins extracted from mango seeds may be able to protect against dangerous bacteria image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Health](/section/health/) # Using mango seeds to kill bacteria by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Aug 14, 2009 4:32 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Aug 14, 2009 4:32 PM CUT  By processing mango pits instead of throwing them away, one University of Alberta researcher discovered a novel way to preserve food—and potentially combat dangerous bacterial infections such as [Listeriosis](http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease%5Flisting/listeriosis%5Fgi.html#what "undefined"). An outbreak of the illness last year in Canada left at least 21 people dead, making the findings published recently in the _Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry_ particularly timely, and promising. more The tannins that researcher Christina Engels managed to extract from normally throwaway mango pits proved to not only act as a food preservative, but to effectively kill off Listeria microbes responsible for potentially deadly Listeriosis, a condition that initially causes flu-like symptoms and, like many illnesses, most strongly impacts the elderly, pregnant women and infants. Listeria can be spread in food products such as prepackaged salads and cold cuts—the outbreak last year in Canada was traced back to [meat products produced at one plant](http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/08/24/listeria.outbreak/index.html "undefined")—so being able to introduce a new, inexpensive and effective antibacterial could have far-reaching impact in the food industry. Yet, mango pit protection isn’t ready to roll out just yet. Further studies are currently underway to confirm these initial results, and to test their application on a broad range of foods. Tannins extracted from mango seeds may be able to protect against dangerous bacteria ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7145171/using-mango-seeds-to-kill-bacteria/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7145171/using-mango-seeds-to-kill-bacteria/"},"headline":"Using mango seeds to kill bacteria","datePublished":"2009-08-14T16:32:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-19T02:16:50.856Z","description":"By processing mango pits instead of throwing them away, one University of Alberta researcher discovered a novel way to preserve food—and potentially combat dangerous bacterial...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7145171/using-mango-seeds-to-kill-bacteria/","keywords":["listeria"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7145171/using-mango-seeds-to-kill-bacteria/","name":"Using mango seeds to kill bacteria"}}]}] ```