Imran Mohd, Khan Aiysha Siddiq, Khan Mohammad Ali, Saeed Mohammad Umar, Noor Naima, Warsi Musarrat Husain, Qadir Abdul
Department of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, New Delhi, India.
Clinical Biochemistry Lab, Department of Biochemistry, School of Chemical and Life Science, New Delhi, India.
Polim Med. 2021 Jul-Dec;51(2):69-75. doi: 10.17219/pim/143424.
Microbial pathogens, mainly bacteria, are a major cause of food spoilage resulting in several foodborne diseases. Food spoilage can be prevented by the application of chemical preservatives in the food industry but such process has harmful effects on human health and causes the introduction of chemicals in several food chains, leading to toxicity and long-term complications. Due to such adverse effects, the need to find natural preservatives that are safer to use, effective and less complicated is increasing.
This study is based on plant extracts that play a major role in microbicidal action (the use of natural preservatives is preferred over chemical ones). Antimicrobial action of different plant extracts was assessed using Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli as experimental bacterial strains.
Ethanolic extracts of different plants like Punica granatum, Acacia catechu and Phyllanthus emblica were highly effective against the both analyzed bacterial strains at a dosage of 10 mg/mL, while the extracts of Ocimum bacilicum and Quercus infectoria were effective only against S. aureus and E. coli, respectively.
Punica granatum and Phyllanthus emblica extracts were found to be the most effective and exhibited bacteriostatic and bactericidal activities against the highly infectious strains of pathogenic bacteria causing food spoilage, with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 2.5 mg/mL and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of 5 mg/mL.
The plant extracts used in the study were highly effective in reducing bacterial contamination and can be used as an alternative to chemical preservatives to avoid and control foodborne diseases and for preservation of food with no health-related hazards caused by chemicals.
微生物病原体，主要是细菌，是导致食物变质并引发多种食源性疾病的主要原因。在食品工业中，应用化学防腐剂可防止食物变质，但该过程对人体健康有有害影响，并会导致多种食物链中引入化学物质，从而引发毒性和长期并发症。由于这些不利影响，人们越来越需要找到使用更安全、有效且操作更简便的天然防腐剂。
本研究基于在杀菌作用中起主要作用的植物提取物（相较于化学防腐剂，更倾向于使用天然防腐剂）。以金黄色葡萄球菌和大肠杆菌作为实验菌株，评估不同植物提取物的抗菌作用。
不同植物（如石榴、儿茶和余甘子）的乙醇提取物在剂量为10毫克/毫升时，对两种分析的细菌菌株均具有高效性，而罗勒和没食子栎的提取物分别仅对金黄色葡萄球菌和大肠杆菌有效。
发现石榴和余甘子提取物最为有效，对导致食物变质的高传染性病原菌菌株具有抑菌和杀菌活性，最低抑菌浓度（MIC）为2.5毫克/毫升，最低杀菌浓度（MBC）为5毫克/毫升。
本研究中使用的植物提取物在减少细菌污染方面非常有效，可作为化学防腐剂的替代品，以避免和控制食源性疾病，并用于食品保存，且不会产生与化学物质相关的健康危害。
