Abstract
The aim of the present work was to evaluate the microbiological quality of chicken thighs after treatment by fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and savory (Satureja hortensis) essential oil, stored under vacuum packaging (VP) at 4 ± 0.5 °C for a period of 16 days. The following treatments of chicken thighs were used: Air-packaging control samples (APCS), vacuum-packaging control samples (VPC), vacuum-packaging (VP) control samples with rapeseed oil (VPRO), VP (vacuum-packaging) with fennel essential oil at concentrations 0.2% v/w (VP + F), and VP with savory essential oil at concentration 0.2% v/w (VP + S). The quality assessment of APCS, VPC, VPRO, VP + F and VP + S products was established by microbiological analysis. The microbiological parameters as the total viable counts of bacteria of the Enterobacteriaceae family, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and Pseudomonas spp. were detected. Bacterial species were identified with the MALDI-TOF MS Biotyper. The combination of essential oils and vacuum packaging had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on the reduction of total viable counts (TVC) compared with control group without vacuum packaging and the untreated control group. Though 15 genera and 46 species were isolated with scores higher than 2.3 from the chicken samples.
Highlights
The number of reported cases of food - associated infections has increased rapidly so it is very important to focus on food safety from both consumers and food industry point of view [1]
Essential oils have been proven to show an inhibitory effect against a wide range of food spoiling microbes; the level of this effect depends on their concentration, method of testing, and the active constituents presented [8,9]
The antimicrobial activity of essential oils is the consequence of the presence of small terpenoids and phenolic compounds [10,11,12]
Summary
The number of reported cases of food - associated infections has increased rapidly so it is very important to focus on food safety from both consumers and food industry point of view [1]. One of the possibilities to prolong the shelf-life of the meat is application of natural preservatives, including oil extracts of herbs and spices [4]. The oil s are natural products extracted from plants and can be used as natural additives for food because of their antibacterial, anti-fungal, antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties. Essential oils have been proven to show an inhibitory effect against a wide range of food spoiling microbes; the level of this effect depends on their concentration, method of testing, and the active constituents presented [8,9]. The antimicrobial activity of essential oils is the consequence of the presence of small terpenoids and phenolic compounds (thymol, carvacrol, eugenol) [10,11,12]
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