Antimicrobial Activity of Onion and Ginger against two Food Borne Pathogens Escherichia Coli and Staphylococcus Aureus

Antimicrobial properties of phytochemicals extracted from onion (Allium cepa) and ginger (Zingiber officinale) were evaluated against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, two common food borne pathogens. They were tested using minimum inhibitory concentration, minimum bactericidal concentration disc diffusion and agar wells diffusion. Onion showed good antimicrobial properties against S.aureus with an inhibition zone of 28mm but was not all that effective against E.coli. Ginger showed very poor antimicrobial properties against either of the organisms. S.aureus was shown to be more susceptible to the phytochemicals than E.coli.