Synergistic Effect of Pakistani Honey with Black Seeds against Food Borne Pathogens

Background: Food borne infections is a major public health problem all over the world. For centuries, honey has been used as a gastrointestinal and topical remedy and also as a food preservative. It has been exploited not only as a food but, utilized for multiple purposes such as for the treatment of various disease, for wound healing etc. Black seeds have also been used in traditional medicine and food preservation due to their effective therapeutic properties. The synergy-based combination of both the herbal extracts may enhance the antimicrobial potential against food borne pathogens. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the antibacterial potential of different variants of Pakistani honey (Acacia honey, Ziziphus honey, and Sidr honey) in combination with black seeds against foodborne pathogens. Methods: The antibacterial activity of different Pakistani honey (Acacia honey, Ziziphus honey, and Sidr honey) was evaluated using an agar well diffusion assay. The synergistic effect of honey and black seed was also examined. Moreover, the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was determined using the tube dilution method. Results: The combination of Ziziphus honey and black seeds showed the most significant antibacterial effect such as 25.0, 28.0- and 30.0-mm zones of inhibition against Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, and Staphylococcus aureus respectively. The inhibition zone of the synergistic antibacterial effect of honey and black seed extracts against foodborne pathogens was significantly larger than the extracts used separately. Furthermore, the lowest MIC was observed 3.12 mg/ml against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in the combination of Ziziphus honey with black seeds whereas, 6.25 mg/ml was observed against salmonella typhi. Conclusion: The present finding supports the traditional use of these different Pakistani honey variants in combination with black seeds for treating food borne pathogens to promote good health without any adverse side effects. The results suggested that present combination of natural extracts could be further explored clinically as a potent synergy-based therapeutic approach for treating various multidrug resistant food pathogens.