Natural Antimicrobials: A Clean Label Strategy to Improve the Shelf Life and Safety of Reformulated Meat Products

Abstract

Meat is a nutrient-rich matrix for human consumption. However, it is also a suitable environment for the proliferation of both spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. The growing demand to develop healthy and nutritious meat products with low fat, low salt and reduced additives and achieving sanitary qualities has led to the replacement of the use of synthetic preservatives with natural-origin compounds. However, the reformulation process that reduces the content of several important ingredients (salt, curing salts, etc.), which inhibit the growth of multiple microorganisms, greatly compromises the stability and safety of meat products, thus posing a great risk to consumer health. To avoid this potential growth of spoiling and/or pathogenic microorganisms, numerous molecules, including organic acids and their salts; plant-derived compounds, such as extracts or essential oils; bacteriocins; and edible coatings are being investigated for their antimicrobial activity. This review presents some important compounds that have great potential to be used as natural antimicrobials in reformulated meat products.

Exploring Propolis as a Sustainable Bio-Preservative Agent to Control Foodborne Pathogens in Vacuum-Packed Cooked Ham

“…The quantification of the bioactive compounds by the HPLC method show that the quality of propolis added to the cooked ham formulation was good according to its phenolic profile. The content in flavonols (quercetin, galangin, and kaempferol), phenolic acids (p-coumaric acids and esters of caffeic and ferulic acids), and flavones and flavanones (chrysin and pinobanksin), are by previous works describing propolis from the exact geographical origin [5,24,[40][41][42]. These compounds have demonstrated their bioactivity through a broad antimicrobial activity spectrum.…”

“…These compounds have demonstrated their bioactivity through a broad antimicrobial activity spectrum. For instance, the antibacterial activity of quercetin, p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid, and their derivatives occurred against bacterial species such as S. aureus, L. monocytogenes, and B. cereus [2,5]. Most flavonoids and phenolic acids identified in the selected propolis exhibited biological activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative food-borne pathogens, as displayed by the low minimum inhibition concentrations [35].…”

“…These investigations must counteract the requirements of the food industry and the authority's legislation to protect consumer health. Furthermore, the foods where artificial additives have been avoided or reduced (so-called Clean Label products) emerge in the consumers' minds as being associated with safety, healthy food, and high-quality products [4,5].…”

“…In this sense, scientific research identifies several natural substances as sustainable choices for the meat industry. Amongst natural preservatives, plant extracts have been the most traditionally studied due to their antimicrobial and antioxidant properties and because of their perception as being Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) [5,11]. Other natural conservatives considered potential substitutes for artificial additives include honeybee products.…”

Combined Catalysis: A Powerful Strategy for Engineering Multifunctional Sustainable Lignin-Based Materials

“…To date, scientists around the world are trying to innovate and create better solutions to battle the current challenges associated with the multidrug resistance of pathogenic microorganisms and their impact on the healthcare system and infectious diseases. − In light of this, nature-based materials are generally considered safe and renewable and have demonstrated additional properties, such as antioxidant behavior, a broad antimicrobial spectrum, activity against sensitive and resistance pathogens, and some have been shown to reverse antibiotic resistance . Therefore, they could be a good candidate to address the abovementioned challenge and provide alternative or complementary technologies to conventional antibiotics. − Several reports have demonstrated that polyphenols, such as lignin, , possess a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activities (Figure ).…”