The effect of essential oils on quality and safety parameters of meat during its storage

This article researches the basic principles of mechanism for finding the concentrations of essential oils (EO) which are efficient for antimicrobial action, when used as a natural alternative to synthetic analogues. The effect of EO of rosemary, sage, garlic, laurel, cloves, basil and thyme on the structural components of meat, its physical and chemical, organoleptic and microbiological quality indices was studied. The effect of EO on duration of microorganisms' growth phases is analyzed. It is shown that the reasonable concentration of the essential-oil mixture (EOM) is equal to 0.1%, since at this concentration the optimal inhibition of saprophytic microflora was provided with satisfactory organoleptic quality indices (“taste peculiar for this type of product”, “pleasant fragrance”, “spicy aroma”). The analysis of histological structural changes in muscle tissue showed that application of EOM slows down autolytic processes, which correlates with the data obtained in research of the specific electrical conductivity in water extracts from the muscle tissue. The autolysis process in the control samples was more intensive in comparison with the experimental samples stored in the EOM. Thus, by 84th hour of storage in the control sample the basophilic staining of the samples slices was observed, as well as almost complete disappearance of the striation of muscle fibers. In the muscle tissue slices the disintegration of individual fragments into myofibrils, and myofibrils into sarcomeres, was observed in form of a granular mass, sometimes enclosed in endomysium. The meat fibers were deformed and their separation was observed. The same changes with the studied samples stored in the EOM occurred only after 204 hours of storage. The above studies of changes in the specific electrical conductivity of water extract from meat during storage showed the presence of complexes of EOM components formed with proteins and lipids of muscle tissue. The obtained data are confirmed by histological studies. Thus, the use of EOM allowed elongation of the cold storage period of semi-finished natural lump products by 2.6 times, which proves the practical benefits of its use in the meat-processing industry.