Propolis and Potential Use in Food Products

Abstract

Propolis is attracting great interest due to functional effects such as antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer. Therefore, studies about the use of propolis in food products and increasing propolis consumption in human nutrition have increased in recent years. Propolis contains phenolic compounds, essential oils, aromatic acids and waxes which are responsible for biological effects. Many factors such as plant resources, geographical regions and environmental conditions affect the chemical composition of propolis. Propolis enrichment in food products to improve the nutritional value, quality and functionality of food have been investigated in many studies. Furthermore, it was reported that propolis can meet the demand of consumers about the use of natural food additive in food manufacturing. The aim of the present study was to introduce the physicochemical composition and biological activity of propolis and review the studies about its applications in food products.

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

“…Our results evidence the high sensitivity towards propolis, as shown by the vast inhibition halos and the low MIC and MBC values obtained in the inoculated strains. These findings are in agreement with other works that reflect similar conclusions concerning the bacterial behavior of L. monocytogenes and S. aureus [44] and similarly with sporulated bacteria such as B. cereus [45] and C. sporogenes [46] at in vitro conditions [43].…”

“…Finally, the evolution of indigenous microorganisms (mesophilic, psychrotrophic, and lactic acid bacteria) did not show differences between the batch formulations. Regarding mesophilic aerobic and psychrotrophic bacteria, other studies described similar growth trends throughout the storage time using comparable propolis concentrations [45,46].…”

“…In contrast, when the EEP was incorporated into the cooked ham formulation recipe, the microbial behavior was quite different than in vitro conditions. Propolis has been incorporated into meat products such as sausages [46], beef patties, salami [47], raw meat [39,48], and many dairy products such as ice cream, milk, and cheese [4,[49][50][51]. However, when referring to foods subjected to heat treatment, current works only considered plant powder extracts as an alternative [14,39,43,52].…”

Review on Propolis Applications in Food Preservation and Active Packaging

“…Propolis was tested in different food formulations, including fruits, vegetables, juices, meat, seafood, oils, etc. [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53].…”

Stability, Content of Bioactive Compounds and Antioxidant Activity of Emulsions with Propolis Extracts during Simulated In Vitro Digestion

“…Among the most important advantages of the emulsions prepared in this research is their application within the food industry due to their capacity to solubilize in water, as well as the capacity to mask the unpleasant taste of propolis and the smell of native propolis [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. The importance of the incorporation of encapsulated propolis in several formulations to be applied to medicines, cosmetics and food as a functional additive is well documented [ 4 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”