Scholarly record

STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF ESSENTIAL OILS ON THE PRESERVATION OF NUTRIONALLY ENRICHED BAKERY PRODUCTS

Cristina Gabriela Constantinescu, Monica Dinu, Amelia Buculei, Delia Cerlinca

Abstract

The major changes that have taken place over the last decade on the world food market reveal peopleпїЅs great interest in health and nutrition. The modern consumer is being warned about the major influences that the diet has on his health condition by the appropriate information accompanying the well-packaged product or by publicizing the risk of some diseases whose major cause is an unbalanced diet. Since there is great interest in providing bakery products with preservation by complying with the clean label statement, this study brings into attention the influence of essential oil addition on preservation. It has been acknowledged that bakery products, especially the packed ones, after a certain period of time, mould. To prevent this phenomenon, chemical additives are widely used. Instead of using chemical preservers, based on previous studies and information on the antiseptic effects of essential oils, four types of such oils were used in our product, namely: basil, thyme, lavender and rosemary. The reference product is the 2% Spirulina platensis added bread, and the percentage of oils added is of 0,1%. After baking the products, they were analyzed 1 hour after being removed from the oven, from the point of view of the microbiological load, later on to be analyzed after packaging and storing. Thus, the products were analyzed after 1, 2 and 3 days by microbiological and sensory tests. At the same time, the influence of the addition of essential oils on the mineral content was also analyzed. We noticed that the products added by essential oils molded after 5 пїЅ6 days of storage as against the blank sample which molded within 5 days. In terms of the mineral content, a slight increase in the concentration of Mg, Mn, Zn, Fe was observed. As regards the other minerals, their influence is insignificant.

Publication details

Back to publication list