Impact of some essential oils on the quality aspect and shelf life of meat

Abstract

Plant essential oils (EOs) serve as a "safe" alternative to chemical or synthetic antimicrobials and antioxidants to struggle with the food borne pathogens or spoilage organisms, inhibiting lipid oxidation and thus extend shelf life of ground beef application .In our study, we investigated the effectiveness of thyme oil (thymus vulgaris) at concentrations (1% , 1.5% and 2%) and cinnamon oil (cinnamomum zeylanicum) at concentrations (0.5% , 1% and 1.5%) as natural preservatives as well as their ability to increase the shelf life of minced meat , and also their effects on chemical , microbial analysis and sensory properties of minced meat when been stored at 2°C for 12 days storage period. Obtained results showed that samples treated revealed decreasing of values from chemical, microbial and improving sensory properties than untreated samples (control) ones. Also, thyme oil at concentration 2% and cinnamon oil at concentration 1.5% showed best values than others.