Identification of inexpensive natural biopreservatives for food processing applications

Over the years several physical and chemical preservation techniques have been adopted to deal with food spoilage, however, some of them are not suitable for consumption and pose severe health concerns. This calls for an immediate pursuit towards preservation approaches which are strongly effective in terms of antimicrobial, antifungal, mycotoxins inhibition. The use of natural antimicrobial compounds especially extracted from plants are of growing interest due to their non-hazardous properties. This study is designed to identify effective natural bio-preservatives from plant extracts. Among some natural plant extracts tested, cinnamon and clove essential oil (EO) were found to be most effective. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for bacteria for both cinnamon and clove was found to be 0.2% (v/v). These were also tested for antifungal properties, where unlike clove EO, cinnamon EO was found to be very good antifungal agent. The results suggest that cinnamon and clove EO have strong antibacterial and moderate antifungal activity and may be used as biopreservatives for raw and slightly processed food.