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Review
. 2021 Feb 9;10(2):263.
doi: 10.3390/antiox10020263.

Plant-Based Phenolic Molecules as Natural Preservatives in Comminuted Meats: A Review

Michel M Beya  1 , Michael E Netzel  1 , Yasmina Sultanbawa  1 , Heather Smyth  1 , Louwrens C Hoffman  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Plant-Based Phenolic Molecules as Natural Preservatives in Comminuted Meats: A Review

Michel M Beya et al. Antioxidants (Basel). .

Abstract

Comminuted meat products are highly susceptible to safety and quality degradation partly because of their large interfacial area in the emulsion. The food industry extensively uses synthetic chemical preservatives to delay that degradation which is caused by microbial growth, enzyme activities and oxidation reactions. However, due to the potential health damage (e.g., cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cancers among others) synthetic preservatives in meat may cause, consumers are becoming skeptical to buy meat products containing such additives. In the meat industry, the interest of finding natural food preservatives is intensifying. Polyphenolic-rich plants used as natural food preservatives offer the best alternative for a partial or a complete replacement of their synthetic counterparts. They can be extracted from natural sources such as olives, fruits, grapes, vegetables, spices, herbs, and algae, and among others. The common feature of these phenolic compounds is that they have one or more aromatic rings with one or more -OH group which are essential for their antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. This review article is intended to provide an overview of the plant-based phenolic molecules used as natural food preservative, their antimicrobial and antioxidant mechanism of action, and their potential application in comminuted meat.

Keywords: antimicrobial; antioxidant; comminuted meat; natural preservatives; plant extracts; polyphenols.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of selected plant-based phenolic compounds.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of an antioxidant’s mechanism of actions. Single electron transfer (SET) and hydrogen atom transfer (HAT). (A) SET involves the ionization potential of the antioxidant by transferring so as to deactivate a free radical. HAT involves the bond dissociation enthalpy in which the free radical removes one hydrogen atom from the antioxidant. (B) Metal chelation involves the binding of a metal (oxidant) to form a complex ring-like structure.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Antimicrobial activities of plant-based phenolic compound on microbial cells.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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