Effects of thymol and rosemary essential oils and red beet extract on low-nitrite and carmine-free beef Mortadella

摘要

In the present study, essential oils were used in order to reduce the nitrite in beefMortadella, and the red beet extract was used instead of carmine. Beef Mortadellasamples containing thymol and rosemary essential oils and red beet extract wereproduced. Chemical, physical, sensorial, and microbiological analyses were performedduring the storage period. The antimicrobial and antioxidant effects of nitritecan be achieved by using thymol and rosemary essential oils. Thiobarbituric acid valuesof nitrite-freesamples were found to be higher than nitrite-containingsamples.Redness values of samples containing red beet extract and samples containing nitritewere highest. It can be recommended to use rosemary essential oil and red beet extractin reduced-nitriteand carmine-freemeat products. The rosemary essential oilwas reported to be more acceptable than thymol from sensorial aspect, although thymolhas high antimicrobial and antioxidant effects and high phenolic content whencompared with rosemary essential oil.