Influence of Natural Antioxidants from Essential Oils on Shelf Life of Chicken Fillet

Recently, researchers have been more interested in natural than synthetic antioxidants because consumers and industry prefer foods with natural antioxidants to synthetic ones. During past two decades, many researchers tested essential oils like morenga and wheat germ because they contain chemical compounds that can increase or enhance shelf-life of foods, make them more resistant to oxidation, slow down the microbial or fungal growth, and show positive effect on their physiochemical properties. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial effect of two essential oils (morenga and wheat germ) to be used as natural preservative in Chicken fillet, So they were applied as natural preservative in Chicken fillet at three concentrations (0.2%, 0.5% and 1%) and compared with negative control and positive control (BHT) and the TBARS, DNPH, pH value, WHC and microbial load was evaluated through a storage period of 12 days and at 4 °C, during storage the treatment showed a results superior to that of the synthetic antioxidant with a lower TBARS value, carbonyl content and microbial load. These findings show that this essential oils at the level of 1% is very effective against lipid and protein oxidation, and a powerful antimicrobial in chicken fillet and is a promising natural antioxidant and antimicrobial replacing the synthetic preservatives in meat processing