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

Abstract

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) 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.

Keywords

• Jamaican pepper
• Natural preservative
• Phenolic compounds
• P. aeruginosa
• Oxidative stability
• Essential oil