A study of the levels of natural preservatives in wild plants

Abstract

To examine the levels of preservatives that occur naturally in food, wild plants used as commercial teas, rice cakes, or spices were studied according to the method of the Korean Food Code and analyzed with a gas chromatograph and HPLC. The levels of the natural preservatives (sodium dehydroacetate, sorbic acid, benzoic acid, methyl p-hydroxybenzoate, ethyl p-hydroxybenzoate, isopropyl p-hydroxybenzoate, propyl p-hydroxybenzoate, isobutyl p-hydroxybenzoate, butyl p-hydroxybenzoate, and propionic acid) in 21 cases were investigated against 15 kinds of wild plants. Six of 15 kinds of wild plants, such as pine needles, bamboo leaf, kudzu leaf, ramie leaf, mugwort, and nut pine leaf, were confirmed to have had sorbic acid, benzoic acid, and propionic acid. 8.201-21.839 mg/kg of benzoic acid was detected in the bamboo leaf, ramie leaf, pine needles, mugwort, kudzu leaf, and nut pine leaf. The sorbic acid contents of the bamboo leaf and the kudzu leaf were 5.630-24.995 mg/kg, respectively. The propionic acid content of the ramie leaf was 61.324-62.726 mg/kg. Nine kinds of wild plants, such as the Korean berchimia leaf, taro leaf, sasa borealis, lotus leaf, kuansh, chrysanthemum zawadskii, oak tree leaf, Chinese pepper leaf, and persimmon leaf, were not detected at the levels of the natural preservatives. Key words：natural preservatives, wild plants, sorbic acid, benzoic acid, propionic acid