It has been evaluated by World Health Organization that 80% of the population now depends on plants to cure the general infections. In the developing countries >95% of the population used herbs for cure of diseases.
By Dr. Maria Jamil, Dr. Aisha Khatoon, Dr. Muhammad Kashif Saleemi
However, only 15% of the recognized plant species have been examined for the probable medicinal use. It has been observed that >25% of the modern pharmaceutical drugs having some components from plants.
Many antimicrobial drugs are vulnerable by more or less marked toxic side effects and by the arrival of drug resistance. Recently, there is an enhancing awareness of the antimicrobial potential of natural products and medicinal plants. However, herbs and synthetic drugs differ on the basis of potency, free or have fewer side effects, low cost and less toxicity.
Currently, the usage of natural herbs having antimicrobial activities gained concern in food industry. In poultry slaughterhouses, processing and handling such medication is nontoxic, simple to handle and eco-friendly. Now several enterprises in poultry meat industry have begun the usage of more natural antimicrobials as compared to the synthetic antimicrobial chemicals in an effort to have a “clean label” on their products. Therefore, there are continuous studies to find out a natural reservoir of phytochemical components that might be applied as a substitute to synthetic antimicrobial chemicals that might lead to harmful effects. However, the price and accessibility are the major concerns for the producers, byproducts of processed foods have gained higher consideration as potential source of low-cost antimicrobial components.
Most of the times, by products in food industry such as fruit peels, pomace, seeds, husks, pulps and unused flesh have been measured as waste, however, current investigation exposed that they are the auspicious source of bioactive components and valuable agents with numerous functionalities. It has also been proven that such wasted parts having equal or even high concentration of bioactive ingredients than the usable parts, e.g. pomegranate peel constitute upto 40% of whole fruit, 92% of antioxidant activity of pomegranate is due to the pomegranate peel, punicalagin and Ellagic acid has been found in the peel 64.5% and 3.1% respectively, 30% flavonoids found in peel whereas pomegranate fruit having 0.2-1% fruit. It has been reported that 48 phenolic compounds present in pomegranate fruit and peel. Therefore, pomegranate peel extract have excessive antimicrobial activities due to their phenolic compounds (flavonoids, tannins and polyphenols).
Punica granatum is the fruit of a deciduous shrub which is native fruit of South Asia and Mediterraneam. Iran is the largest producers of the Punica granatum that produce approximately 1.09 million tons per year under the native name of “Anar”. From the centuries pomegranate has been used in traditional medicines. Different parts of pomegranate fruit i.e. peels, leaves, bark and rind has been used in traditional remedies for the cure of several microbial infections as well as used against parasitic, respiratory and fungal infections. Pomegranate antimicrobial activity is due to its phenolic content such as polyphenol mainly hydrolysable tannin (punicalagin, Ellagic acid and gallic acid). Phenolic components of Punica granatum have greater biological activities i.e. antimicrobial, antioxidant, antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic activities. Punicalagin, Gallic acid and Ellagic acids are the main pomegranate peel polyphenols.
Currently, in response to user concerns about synthetic preservatives, significant efforts have been made to find out the innovative antimicrobials resultant from a wide range of natural herbs. Generally, food preservative refers to natural or artificial additives for preventing the bacteriological and fungal growth in order to increase the shelf life and quality of food products. Natural antimicrobial may be acquired from various sources such as animals, plants, algae, bacteria and fungi.
It has been reported that pomegranate peel extract have positive antibacterial actions against gram negative and gram positive bacteria i.e. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus respectively. Through the studies it has been revealed that pomegranate peel having high concentration of punicalagin that have antimicrobial activities against many bacteria s such as S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. Moreover, pomegranate peel extract were effective against food borne pathogens and spoilage microorganism. The incidence of phytochemicals i.e. flavonoids, tannins, phenols and alkaloids in the Punica granatum as main active ingredients may be liable for such biological activities. Therefore, pomegranate peel extracts have the potential to use as a therapeutic agent and also in food preservation.
Conclusion:
Currently, antimicrobial characteristics of medicinal plants are being progressively stated from several regions of the world. Due to the development of resistance by the antibiotic now more concerns in the usage of medicinal plants or natural herbs as antimicrobial remedies.