Allspice (Pimenta Dioica Lindl) leaves essential oil as a potential antioxidant and antimicrobial source for use in mechanically deboned poultry meat

Abstract This work aimed to characterize the allspice leaves essential oil (EO) and evaluate its antimicrobial activity against specific food-borne pathogenic microorganisms as well as its in vitro antioxidant activity. The antioxidant activity of different concentrations (0, 500 and 1000 mg/kg) of allspice EO was also evaluated in mechanically deboned poultry meat (MDPM) during storage of up to 10 days at 2 °C. Allspice EO presented as major compounds eugenol (55.52%), myrcene (22.53%) and chavicol (5.12%), and was effective against Gram-negative (P. aeruginosa) and Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria, having greater (p < 0.05) antimicrobial activity than its main component eugenol. In the in vitro antioxidant assays, the allspice EO had higher radical scavenging activity (90% versus 65%) than eugenol, presenting lower IC50 values (2.71 versus 9.49 µg/mL), but the antioxidant activity by the 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) did not differ (p > 0.05) from the synthetic antioxidant butyl-hydroxytoluene (BHT). Incorporating allspice EO in MDPM suppressed lipid oxidation during 8 days of cold storage, regardless of the amount used, exhibiting lower (p < 0.05) TBARS values during all storage periods than MDPM without EO. Allspice leaves EO had the high antioxidant potential to be used in MDPM and could also contribute an antimicrobial effect to the product in which the MDPM is used.