Chapter 7 - Extraction of bioactive compounds and essential oils from herbs using green technologies

Abstract

There has been a great interest in the use of natural antioxidants in food production in order to replace synthetic ones. Synthetic antioxidants can have adverse health effects. Therefore, antioxidants isolated from Mediterranean herbs could be an adequate replacement. Antioxidants from plant sources are valuable bioactive compounds with proven potential for use in the food industry, especially in meat processing, where they are used as natural antimicrobials to extend the shelf life. Various extraction procedures can perform extraction of biologically active compounds (BACs) and essential oils (EOs) from plants. Innovative green techniques, which are considered as environmentally friendly due to decreased use of synthetic and organic chemicals, shorter operating time, better yield and quality of extract, energy savings, and lower costs, have been lately established. Concerning increasing overall yield and selectivity of BACs and EOs from Mediterranean herbs, ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), microwave-assisted extraction, and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) have been the most studied methods. Therefore, this chapter summarizes the novel findings on the use of these technologies to recover BACs/EOs from Mediterranean herbs for products with high bioactive potential for further industrial use.