Essentials oils in food preservation: A review

Abstract

Essential oils are an important source of bioactive compounds (antimicrobial and antioxidant agents), these extracts have attracted the interest of the food industry and are considered nutraceutical products, they can therefore be used as preservatives of natural origin, replacing synthetic preservatives whose use is being limited due to the risks they could cause to the health of consumers. Although the bioactive activity of essential oils has been demonstrated in vitro in several investigations, their effect on food may vary. In the present work, a bibliographic review is made in which studies in which essential oils were applied in different foods were compiled. This allowed us to observe that its effect could be influenced by the characteristics and method of extraction of the essential oil, application technique and nature of the food.