Phytochemical characterization and antimicrobial activity of Cymbopogon citratus extract for application as natural antioxidant in fresh sausage

The development of natural additives is considered an important research topic. In this work, the use of Cymbopogon citratus (CC) extract as a natural additive for chicken sausage refrigerated was investigated. The CC extract was characterized by electrospray ionization with high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-ToF-MS) and the identified compounds were directly related to the antioxidant activity demonstrated by CC in the fresh sausage. In total, 31 phytochemical compounds were identified, and 27 of these still were not described in the literature for CC. The antimicrobial activity showed that CC extract is a potential antibacterial agent. Besides, the results showed that CC extract reduced lipid oxidation compared to synthetic additive. The sensorial characteristics were maintained, demonstrating good acceptability by the consumer. The results confirmed that CC can keep the quality of chicken sausage refrigerated for up to 42 days of storage.

Evaluation of anti-oxidant and anti-microbial activity of various essential oils in fresh chicken sausages

The present study was undertaken to evaluate antimicrobial and antioxidant effect of essential oils on the quality of fresh (raw, ready to cook) chicken sausages. Several preliminary trials were carried out to optimize the level of four essential oils viz., clove oil, holybasil oil, thyme oil and cassia oil and these essential oils were incorporated at 0.25, 0.125, 0.25 and 0.125%, respectively in fresh chicken sausages. Quality evaluation and detailed storage stability studies were carried out for fresh chicken sausages for 20 days at refrigeration temperature (4 ± 1 °C). Refrigerated storage studies revealed that TBARS of control was significantly higher than treatment products whereas, total phenolics and DPPH activity was significantly lower in control. Among treatments, clove oil products had significantly lower TBARS but higher total phenolic content and DPPH activity followed by cassia oil, thyme oil and holybasil oil products. Microbial count of essential oil incorporated products were significantly lower than control and remained well below the permissible limit of fresh meat products (log107 cfu/g). Cassia oil products were observed with better anti-microbial characteristics than clove oil products at 0.25% level of incorporation, whereas, thyme oil products were better than holy basil oil products at 0.125% level. Storage studies revealed that clove oil (0.25%), holy basil oil (0.125%), cassia oil (0.25%) and thyme oil (0.125%) incorporated aerobically packaged and refrigerated fresh chicken sausages had approx. 4-5, 2-3, 5-6 and 2-3 days longer shelf life than control, respectively.