Assessment of Antimicrobial Effect of the Artemisia herba-alba Aqueous Extract as a Preservative in Algerian Traditional Fresh Cheese

Abstract

The present work was carried out in order to study the antimicrobial activity of A. herba-alba extracts and their application as food preservative. A crude extract was prepared by steeping of the dry leaves of A. herba-alba in phosphate buffer. In order to obtain an enriched fraction in active molecules, a series of ammonium sulfate precipitation (ASP) was carried out. Extracts showed antibacterial activity against E. feacalis, M. leteus and L. monocytogenes strains. The best activity is noted for the precipitate obtained at ammonium sulfate precipitation of 60% (ASP60), with inhibition zones of 23.67 ± 0.44 mm for the E. feacalis and M. leteus strains and 18.00 ± 0.67 mm for L. monocytogenes. This extract shows a MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) of 0.23 and 0.9 mg/ml for E. feacalis and L. monocytogenes, respectively. The application of ASP60 on "Takammérite", traditional fresh cheese as preservative, cause a significant slowdown in microbial growth under refrigeration during 15 days of storage.