Invitro evaluation of antimicrobial activities of Bixin natural color and investigation its application in food model of snack

Nowadays, consumers' awareness about the dangers of using synthetic colors has been led to increasing demand for natural colors in various food industries. In this research, in order to study the antibacterial efficacy of bixin against S.aureus, E.coli and L. Innocoa, its inhibition zones, MIC and MBC were determined against selected bacteria. After that bixin as a natural color additives in different concentration (0.14, 0.28, 0.42%) were added in the formulation of snacks.Color properties including L*,a*,b* were determined by hunter lab andorganoleptic propertiesas aroma, color, texture, shape and overall acceptance in 5-point hedonic scale and microbial features of samples including total count, yeast and mold, Enterobacteriaceae, Ecoli were investigated with standard methods. According to the results,bixin showed significant inhibitory effects on all three microorganisms and its inhibitory effects up to 1.2 mg / ml on S.aureus were more pronounced than two other bacteria.Increasing the concentration of bixin caused higher value of a* (redness) and lower values of L* and b* (yellowness and brightness) in samples. The differences between samples containing various concentrations of bixin in organoleptic characteristics such as aroma, texture, appearance and overall acceptability were not significant . Overall, panelists gave more scores for all organoleptic properties to the samples containing 0.42% bixin. Also, in samples containing bixin significant decrease in total count as well as mold and yeast growth were observed.