Investigation of cellulosic packets impregnated with silver nanoparticles for enhancing shelf-life of vegetables

Abstract

Losses due to postharvest spoilage are major factors in food industries. Microbial contamination from field, cold storage and at consumer's place is one of the main causes for food quality loss and shelf life reduction. This report demonstrates the usefulness of low cost and eco-friendly cellulosic packets impregnated with silver nanoparticles for storage of vegetables. Aeromonas sp. was isolated from rotten vegetables (tomatoes and cabbage) and was designated as CTM. Biochemical and microbiological tests together with 16S rDNA sequencing confirmed the isolate as Aeromonas hydrophila. Silver nanoparticles showed bactericidal effect on bacterial isolate CTM. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) value of nanoparticles against CTM was 15.3 μg/ml. Packets impregnated with nanoparticles exhibited significant antimicrobial property. Periodic evaluation of stored vegetables in these packets demonstrated enhanced shelf life with no significant changes in nutritional values whereas vegetables stored in packets without nanoparticles impregnation demonstrated decreased in values. Moisture content was also maintained which makes the vegetables looks fresh. Thus, the developed food packets will be helpful in preventions of microbial growth at varied conditions and will enhanced the shelf life of vegetables.