Essential Oils Applied in Food: A Review

[摘要] Foods present an excellent intrinsic composition to the development of microorganisms with broad range of pathogenic species, undesirable for consumer health. Given this reality and seeking new natural techniques for food preservation, the addition of essential oils becomes a potential bio conservation system, capable to extend food shelf life. This paper aims to report what has been researched using essential oils of vegetable origin, their properties and their incorporation as antimicrobial components in food. Essential oils have different bioactive properties such as antioxidant, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and fungicide, being from different plant sources, such asCymbopogon citratus(DC) Stapf (Cy),Rosmarinus officinalisL,Ocimum gratissimumL,Eugenia caryophyllatathumb,Cinnamomum zeylanicumNess. The essential oils can be obtained by different techniques, being the most used the steam distillation, cold pressing, extraction by organic solvents, high pressure or supercritical CO 2 . The action mechanism by which the majority of essential oils exerts its antibacterial effect involves the cell wall. Studies increasingly accurate reflect their fundamental importance for the food industry, since there are countless possibilities for integration of these constituents in food products aiming to increase their useful life as well as help to further the ways to establish food safety. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14685/rebrapa.v4i2.134

[学科分类] 解剖和生理学

[关键词] Volatile Oils;Antimicrobials;Conservation