The Potential Application of Plant Essential Oils/Extracts as Natural Preservatives in Oils during Processing: A Review

Abstract

The present work summarizes recent investigations carried out about the usage of natural antioxidants in lipid-rich food during processing. Synthetic antioxidants have been used as food additives to retard lipid oxidation and development of off-flavor for over 50 years. However, the literature has expressed safety concerns and health risks (toxic and carcinogenic effects) associated with the use of synthetic antioxidants recently. Natural antioxidative substances from the polyphenols of edible plants are believed to be safer and may provide with additional health benefits and more effective compared to synthetic antioxidants. Due to the fact that natural antioxidants are additives that people mixed with food and consumed for centuries, they are known to be safe by the consumer. Therefore, it is an area worth to investigate due to consumer concerns about health. In the literature, there are many studies showing that the natural antioxidants have important antioxidant effect. Plants (oil seeds, cereals, vegetables, fruits, herb and spices), compounds from animal source (peptides and amino acids), enzymes and some microorganisms are important natural antioxidants. Plant extracts have been widely used to retard lipid oxidation in foods during frying and accelerated storage processes. They were found as strong antioxidant sources due to their high contents of phenolic compounds. There are countless studies about natural antioxidants. However, they have not been investigated completely by means of toxicology.

Influence of Adding Essential Oils as Natural Antioxidants on Thermal Stability of Sunflower Oil

“…The natural antioxidants that can replace synthetic antioxidants have always been an interesting research area among food scientists. EOs from spices and herbs have attracted lot of attention in this regard (Tugba and Medeni, 2012). The addition of EOs as a natural antioxidant to vegetable oils can impart a combined effect to extend shelf life of oils (Sadeghi et al, 2016).…”