An Attempt to Develop Antibacterial Fabric for Foodborne Bacteria

Abstract

Abstract A dishcloth made up of cotton was taken in this research. The dishcloth was treated with a safe natural antibacterial agent, “Withania somnifera” (Ashwagandha). This applied finish is to overcome the growth of bacteria on cloth in vegetarian and nonvegetarian Indian kitchen environments, which would in turn prevent the diseases caused by them. The dishcloth exposed to the kitchen place supports extensively in the multiplication growth of foodborne bacteria genuses, namely Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus species, Enterococcus species, and Streptococcus species. Ashwagandha plant extract obtained through Solvent extraction technique was used as a finish agent on the cotton cloth, using two finish concentrations, 3 % and 5 % on the weight of the material, both the concentrations with and without citric acid, with pad-dry-cure technique. Antibacterial tests carried out following AATCC 147 (2004), Assessment of Textile Materials: Parallel Streak Method, (disc diffusion method) on the developed (unwashed) cotton fabric samples, which signifies the Ashwagandha plant extract as a good antibacterial agent for dishcloth. The zone of inhibition has been obtained in this research varying from 1.5 to 8.5 mm against all the 13 bacteria for the lower and higher concentrations of the herbal extract. The finish retention, namely the durability test, was carried out using ISO 6330-1984E, Textiles—Domestic Washing and Drying Procedures for Textile Testing, on the treated samples and reveals that the antibacterial treatment carried out in the presence of citric acid could show up activity even after four washing cycles varying from 0.5 to 4 mm, whereas the samples treated in the absence of the acid could not withstand even a single wash.