Asha, S; Nithisha, K; Bharath Kumar, R; Ravi Kumar, V
One of the prime reasons for spoilage of fruit juice is microorganisms. To counteract this, many preservation techniques are utilized by food processing industries of which the use of artificial additives and antimicrobials is inevitable, which has vividly raised eyebrows among many consumers. This negative impact has prompted food processing industries to be on the outlook for alternative sources such as the utilization of natural antimicrobials. In this context, spices serve as an ideal resource for increasing the shelf life of foods. Spices not only possess good flavor but significantly contribute to medicinal, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. We evaluated the antimicrobial potential of one of the most commonly used Indian spices viz. Cinnamon bark in various solvents (ethyl acetate, n-hexane, acetone, ethanol, methanol), aqueous extracts and tested them on four gram positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius, Lactobacillus fermentum), four gram negative bacteria (E.coli, Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia), one species of mold (Aspergillus niger), three species of yeast (Candida tropicalis, Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Our results indicated that the antimicrobial response differed with different solvent extracts. It is found that S.aureus is most sensitive bacteria with ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts; L.fermentum with n-hexane extract; B.subtilis with acetone and methanol extracts; and A. acidocaldarius with cool and warm water extracts respectively. Among the gram -ve bacteria, most sensitive bacteria is E.coli with n-hexane, acetone,ethanol and methanol extracts; K. pneumonia with ethyl acetate extract and P. aeruginosa with cool and warm water extracts. It was observed that A.niger was most sensitive with ethyl acetate and acetone extracts; C.tropicalis with n-hexane and methanol extracts; S. cerevisiae with ethanol extract and C.albicans with cool water and warm water extracts of Cinnamon.