ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF CINNAMON BARK (CINNAMOMUM VERUM) EXTRACT AGAINST SOME FOOD PATHOGENS.

ABSTRACT In this study, the antibacterial activity of cinnamon bark (Cinnamomum verum) aqueous and ethanolic extract was investigated on different bacterial isolates (Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp and Staphylococcus aureus) of food origin. The ethanolic extract of cinnamon was extracted from the cinnamon bark powder using ethanol while the aqueous extract was extracted using water, various standard concentrations (200mg/ml, 100mg/ml, 50mg/ml and 25mg/ml) of the cinnamon extract were aseptically dissolved in Dimethyl Sulphur Oxide (DMSO). Pure culture of the bacterial isolates was subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility test using the Agar Disc Diffusion method. The findings of this study revealed that E. coli produced the highest susceptibility to the ethanolic extract of the cinnamon bark while S. aureus produced the highest susceptibility to the aqueous extract of the cinnamon bark. Reasonably, the lowest concentration (25mg/ml) of both solvents used to extract the cinnamon also had minimal antibacterial activity on all the test isolates used and none was resistance to the least concentration. It can also be deduced from this research that the ethanolic extract is more bacteriostatic and bactericidal than the aqueous extract of the cinnamon bark extract. This study portrayed that cinnamon bark (Cinnamomum verum) as an antibacterial agent and serves as a pointer for pharmaceutical industries in producing effective antibacterial drugs of plant sources.