Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Evaluation of Artocarpus altilis Extract as Potential Preservatives for Food

The utilization of food preservation materials including addition of antimicrobial and antioxidant compounds can be used to improve shelf-life and decrease the risk of food poisoning. Since plant matrices possess antimicrobial and antioxidant capacity, nowadays natural products are developed as food preservatives to protect themselves from microbial infection and deterioration. Artocarpus altilis leaves were powdered and extracted with distilled water, ethanol, and chloroform for 1 h each at room temperature and repeated three times. Antimicrobial activity of extracts was evaluated by the broth micro-dilution methods against a few food spoilage fungi and pathogen bacteria. Radical scavenging activity of Artocarpus altilis dried extracts was compared with gallic acid using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl method. Aqueous extract exhibited the strongest antifungal activity against Penicillium sp than that of other spoilage fungi with the AFA value of 140.36 +/- 3.76%. Ethanol extract showed remarkable inhibitory activity against E. coli and S. thypi bacteria with MIC value at 0.025 mg/ml, followed by chloroform and aqueous extract. Chloroform extract showed marked antioxidant activity in radical scavenging method. The results suggest the Artocarpus altilis might have essential use in the future as antimicrobial agents for food and pharmaceutical industry. The Artocarpus altilis extracts showed more antimicrobial activity than shown by their antioxidant activity.