Use of Origanum vulgare Essential Oil as an Antibacterial Additive in the Preservation of Minced Meat

The essential oil extracted by hydrodistillation from the aerial parts of Origanum vulgare L. harvested in the region of Skikda (North-East-Algeria) gave an excellent oil yield (2.8%). Its analysis by Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) identified 98.10% of its constituents. The major components are: carvacrol (47.6%), thymol (16.6%), p-cymene (13.5%) and γ-terpinene (11.2%).

The aim of this study was to the preservative effect of Origanum vulgare essential oil applied to a very low concentration of 0.025% (minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)), of a sensitive food of essential nutritional value, of great consumption and easily perishable “minced meat”, stored at different times, namely: T0 = 0 min, T1 = 40 min, T2 = 24 h, and T3 = 48 h. By studying its microbiological quality by determining the rate of reduction of the total aerobic mesophilic microflora and of Staphylococcus aureus. The addition of Origanum vulgare essential oil to minced meat allowed a highly significant reduction of 0.01<p<0.1 in total aerobic mesophilic microflora reduction rate and very highly significant (p≤0.01) for Staphylococcus aureus, and markedly increase the shelf life. This allows us to propose the use of this essential oil as a source of natural preservative substances.