Antimicrobial effects of silver nanoparticles possibly used in food packaging

Abstract

Microbial contamination in food industry is a major issue resulting in wast ed products and poses a threat to public health through foodborne illnesses. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have strong antimicrobial properties against various microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast, and mold. It was also used for disinfection of potable water leveraging their antimicrobial effect as early as 1000 B.C (1)..AgNPs destructively interact with microorganisms and exhib it effective antimicrobial activity compared to other silver salts due to their extensive surface area derived from the spherical shape. Therefore, utilizing this antimicrobial material in the food industry can be beneficial for pro longing the shelf life of food products by inhibiting the growth of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. In this research, AgNPs were produced using the chemical reduction meth od at room temperature and aimed to observe the most effective shaped and sized AgNP sample among the AgNP samples. Eight different samples were obtained by adding H2 O2 . AgNPs with different sizes and shapes were analyzed for their antimicrobial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 43300), Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 4352), Entero coccus faecalis (ATCC 29212), Streptococcus pyogenes (ATCC 19615), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Candida albicans (ATCC 90028) and Aspergillus brasilinesis (ATCC 16404). The cyto-safety of administration was assured in vitro on human epi dermal keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells via 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2, 5-diphen yltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. UV-Visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS), fouri er-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), and zeta potential results showed that adding H2 O2 changed the color, shape, and particle size, hence the antimicrobial effect of the AgNPs. According to all re sults, AgNPs were seen to have promising potential for food (mineral water) packaging due to their high antimicrobial activity.