Antimicrobial Evaluation of Parkia speciosa-Coated Textile in Food Processing Settings

Abstract

Microbial cross-contamination in the food production and processing environment is one of the major factors of food contamination and foodborne illness. The use of antimicrobial textiles can be a measure to reduce the bioburden in food production settings. However, application of synthetic antimicrobial agents such as silver, copper, titanium, and zinc in food systems is limited due to issues of toxicity. Thus, this study aimed to develop a textile with natural antimicrobial finishing that meets American Association of Textiles Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) standard. The textile samples were finished with the ethanolic extract of Parkia speciosa. The extract was tested on food borne pathogens and exhibited significant inhibitory activity against all the test microorganisms with minimum inhibitory concentration ranged from 0.32 to 1.25 mg/mL. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis showed that 2-[2-(2-ethoxyethoxy)ethoxy]ethyl acetate is the main bioactive constituents of the extract. The finished textile showed excellent antimicrobial efficacy with growth reduction of 90% on Hohenstein Challenge Test. The wash durability of the finished textile was found good even after 30 washes with commercial detergent. Finally, the bioburden test of the developed textile in the industrial scale food-processing setting showed that it is effective in preventing the microbial contamination.

Keywords

• antimicrobial textile
• parkia speciosa
• food borne pathogens
• food processing settings