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So say Kalidas Shetty and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, who have been experimenting with different ratios of cranberry and oregano extract to kill Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a seafood-dwelling bacterium that can cause two-day bouts of stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea.

While both plants are known to contain phenolic compounds with antimicrobial activity, Shetty had a hunch that they might be more effective when used in combination. He found that using a 50:50 mixture to coat cod fillets and shrimps infected with V. parahaemolyticus was far more effective at killing the bugs than either of the compounds on its own - probably because they disrupt different parts of the bacterial cell. Lowering the pH with a dash of lactic acid made the concoction even more effective (Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies, vol 6, p 453).

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