M eat and meat products are an excellent source of essential nutrients with high-quality proteins, fat and mineral. There are a wide variety of meat products including cured meats, patties, nuggets, meatballs and etc. (Aminzare et al., 2016). Lipid oxidation is a major cause of deterioration in meat and meat products due to their high fat content and low water activity leading to loss of nutritional value, unpleasant flavor and texture, and water holding capacity (García-Lomillo et al., 2017; Ding et al., 2015). Cooking of meat involves the formation of hydro-peroxides that can be easily broken down to various volatile organic compounds such as alkanes, alkenes, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, esters and acids that are responsible for reducing the sensorial quality and leading to oxidative flavors, loss of pigments and vitamins in meat and meat products (García-Lomillo et al., 2017). Heating process disrupt the muscle cell structure, deactivates anti-oxidative enzymes and produces catalytic iron from myoglobin leading to an intense pro-oxidant environment in which both lipids and proteins can be affected. Grinding can destruct muscle cell membranes so the reaction between unsaturated lipids with pro-oxidant substances such as non-heme iron increases lipid oxidation (Gallego et al., 2015). Furthermore, heme pigments (myoglobin and hemoglobin) are also oxidized in a coupled lipid-pigment reaction, which causes a color change. Antioxidants can be added to meat and meat products during processing to delay lipid oxidation. Plant polyphenols and essential oils (EOs) are considered as major natural source of bioactive compounds to increase the shelf life of meat and meat review Article Abstract | Lipid oxidation is one of the most important problems that decrease the shelf life of meat and meat products. Antioxidants are used to reinstate free radicals thereby retarding lipid oxidation, delay development of unpleasant-flavors, and improve color stability.Application of synthetic antioxidants to mitigate oxidative damage may consider unsafe for consumers. Furthermore, the recent growing in the understanding of the consumers about these hazards resulted in the replacement ofsynthetic antioxidants with natural bioactive compounds. Plant materials are rich sources of bioactive phenolic compounds; hence they can be an effective alternative to synthetic antioxidants. This review presents an overview regarding the new advances in the application of natural antioxidant compounds such as herbs, spices, fruits, plant essential oils and extracts in meat and meat products to improvetheir quality and shelf-life.

M eat is a known source of protein and due to its valuable proteins, essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals and fat, meat is an important part of a balanced diet. During the storage and processing of meat and meat products oxidative reactions can occur (Stadnik and Kęska, 2015) (Domínguez et al., 2016). Oxidation of lipids is one of the most important reaction in meat products which cause rancidity, reduce in quality, nutritional value, and taste. It could even produce toxic compounds which could be risky for human health. The application of antioxidants is of the best solutions to prevent oxidation and protect meat against oxidative damage. Complications of synthetic antioxidants in foods and consumers demand for natural preservative leads to utilization of natural antioxidants in food products. Therefore, due to high bioactive contents of essential oils and plant extracts, scientists and industries review Article Abstract | According to the environmental problems that plastic packaging was made in recent decades, edible film/ coating have been drawn attention due to their beneficial properties. Alginate, chitosan, starch, CMC and etc. are of the most common edible films/coatings. On the other hand, the meat and meat products are vulnerable to oxidative reactions that reduce their quality and also lose nutrients and risk consumers health and safety. A strategy to limit this, is use of a wide range of antioxidants. Nowadays, consumers tend to use natural antioxidants due to the complication of synthetic antioxidants. Essential oil and herbal extracts are among natural compounds with high functional properties but they had undesirable effects on sensorial quality of meat and meat products in high doses. An interesting strategy to overcome this limitation is application of polysaccharide edible film/coating as carrier of these compounds. Natural antioxidants in edible films/coatings improve the film matrix and cause an increase in meat shelf-life, benefits sensorial quality and also enhance nutritional value of meat. This paper discusses the combining of natural antioxidants with polysaccharide film and coating in meat and meat products.

Background: Biodegradable films are appropriate alternatives to synthetic polymers due to their potential to enhance food safety and their function as a carrier for wide a range of food additives especially natural antioxidants. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the potential antioxidant activities of sodium alginate films containing resveratrol (RES) alone and in combination with Zataria multiflora essential oil (ZEO) using an in vitro model. Methods: At first, the major chemical compositions of ZEO were evaluated by GC/MS. Then, the amount of phenolic compounds of sodium alginate films were evaluated by total phenolic contents assay and antioxidant activities of films were evaluated by 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) assays. Finally, the concentrations of ZEO and RES which showed better antioxidant activities in sodium alginate films were incorporated to films in combination forms to evaluate their synergistic effects. Results: According to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis, 35 compounds of ZEO were identified and Thymol (37.94%), p-Cymene (9.50%) and 3-Carene (4.98%) were the most important compounds of essential oil, respectively. The results of the radical scavenging evaluations, showed better antioxidant activities of the films containing RES than the films containing ZEO and Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). Also, the combined uses of ZEO and RES into alginate films had the synergistic effects (P<0.05). Conclusion: Therefore, it can be concluded that alginate films incorporated with the combination of ZEO and RES is the appropriate option to postpone the oxidative reactions and can be used as natural antioxidant in the food packaging industry.

Enterotoxin Raw milk PCR carriers of S. aureus. Therefore, the insufficient pasteurization and decontamination of food products or their contamination during preparation, processing, and distribution by the carriers of S. aureus are the common risk factors for the outbreaks of staphylococcal food poisoning [3-6]. Some of the food products that are often involved in the transmission of staphylococcal poisoning include meat and its products, poultry and egg products, milk and dairy products, salads, bakery products (especially cream-filled pastries and cakes), and sandwich fillings [7-11]. The most common symptoms of staphylococcal food poisoning are nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps, which occur within 2-6 hours after the consumption of enterotoxin-containing foods. Occasionally, SFP may be more severe or even fatal, especially in infants, the elderly or immunocompromised patients [11, 12].