Evaluation of antimicrobial behaviour of Tylophora indica leaf extracts against selected food microbial pathogens

In the last few decades, tremendous rise in food trade along with, consumer awareness for hygienic food stuffs has been witnessed. The loss and wastage of food throughout the food supply chain along with serious incidences of food illnesses, owing to consumptions of contaminated foods, has opened the scope for development of newer and effective preservation technology involving natural substances, for Food Microbiologists. To add on, the emergence of multi drug resistant strains due to excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics have created an immediate need to look in for natural anti-microbial for control of microbial infections and thus, extensive efforts are being made globally to replace chemical based food preservatives & antibiotics with natural ones. Plants based products are one of the most important alternatives as these are natural, relatively lesser toxic, economical along with higher inclination towards their acceptance in general population. Decades back, herbs such as Neem and Haridra were used to preserve foods, which were gradually overtaken by the synthetic preservatives. Owing to the health issues with chemical preservatives and additives such as allergies, asthma, dermatitis and seizures, plants have attracted the focus of the scientific community and are being explored for their preservative potential. In view of the above, different extracts viz. methanolic, ethanolic, aqueous and ethyl acetate extracts leaves of Tylophora indica were explored for their antimicrobial potential against selected food pathogens (E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, B. subtilis and L. monocytogenes). The efficiency of different extracts was found in the order methanolic> aqueous> ethyl acetate> ethanolic, thus confirming methanolic to be most effective antimicrobial crude extract. Thereafter, the authors are looking forward to analyse the effects of selected extracts towards shelf life of food products. The plant extracts tested offer scope for developing potential safe and natural food preservatives that alone or in combinations with other antimicrobial agents, can be used in food formulations for enhancing shelf life of different food materials.