evaluation of antibacterial and antifungal activity of aqueous extract of saffron

In recent years the public interest to use natural preservatives derived from plant, animal and microbial strains have enhanced. in addition to positive impact on increasing the shelf life of foods, these compounds do not have harmful effects of chemical preservatives. accordingly, in this study we evaluated antimicrobial effect of aqueous extract of saffron on important food pathogen bacteria and fungi. for this reason, the aqueous extract of saffron was prepared and kept in dry form. minimum inhibitory concentration (mic), minimum bactericidal concentration (mbc) and minimum fungicidal concentration (mfc) of extract were determined by broth microdilution method against salmonella typhimurium, listeria monocytogenese, escherichia coli, aspergillus niger and penicillium notatom. mics against s. typhimurium, l. monocytogenese, e. coli, a. niger and p. notatom was 100 mg/ml. the mbc and mfc were upper than 200 mg/ml. the results of this study represented eligible effect of aqueous extract of saffron to control foodborne pathogens.