ABSTRACT
It has been revealed that the use of synthetic food preservatives has variety of various side effects and hence search of safe and effective natural preservative has become a need. With the afore said objective the present study to screen the possibility of using sesquiterpenoid extract of local folk mushroom Phellinus fastuosus as food preservative was undertaken. Microbial growth inhibition by sesquiterpenoid extract of Phellinus was evaluated in the media with natural ingredient such as milk agar (MA), tomato juice agar (TJA), wheat flour agar (WFA) and pineapple juice agar (PAJA) with the composition with Phellinus extract, sodium benzoate and combinations. Three strains of bacteria and one strain of fungus were used astest organisms. The sesquiterpenoid extract of Phellinus at 0.02% concentration significantly inhibited the growth of all test organisms on natural media and the results were comparable with sodium benzoate. Similarly combination of Phellinus extract and sodium benzoate completely inhibited the growth of all microorganisms in all media, suggesting the possibility of using the Phellinus extract as food preservative.