Effects of Preservatives Added in Cookies on Intestinal Bacteria

Introduction: An essential thing for human survival is food which provides nutritional support for the body or for pleasure. All the food used today has some preservatives, except our own garden plants. Preservatives prevent food spoilage from microorganisms but it will inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungi. Antimicrobial preservatives are the preservatives which inhibit the growth of fungi and bacteria. Methods of preserving foods have been used for centuries and include natural techniques such as smoking fish and meat as well as adding salts.

Aim: The main aim of the study is to find the effects of preservatives added in cookies on intestinal bacteria.

Materials and Method: Take a sample of 10 biscuits. Crush and mix 10 gms in 10 ml of sterile saline. soak for 30 mins and centrifuge and take the supernatant. Transfer 1 ml to each tube and add the selected organisms (lactobacilli). Add 10 microlitre of the selected organism (lactobacilli) to the supernatant. Hold for 30 mins and transfer 10 microlitre to BHI and count the CFU after incubation for 12 hours.

Results and Discussion: After 12 hrs of incubation, colonies are formed. Using colony counter app colonies are counted. Biscuits 4 showed the highest growth of colonies of 797. The control of the bacteria shows confluence growth where the unlimited colonies are formed. This indicates the presence of antimicrobial activity on preservatives added in biscuits. This antimicrobial activity affects the health of the oral cavity and intestine.

Conclusion: From the above study, it is evident that the antimicrobial activity of preservatives that are added in biscuits could affect the health of oral cavity and intestine.