Study of natural compounds of Rosmarinus Officinalis as additives in food active packaging.

The use of natural extracts categorized as flavorings by the European Union (EU) and generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), represents an interesting approach in the active packaging technology. Considerable research, especially from a biological point of view, have been carried out on the assessment of the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of many herbs [1]. For example, the Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) essential oil (REO) contains bioactive compounds having antimicrobial activities [2]. On the other side, the natural extracts (E392) from Rosemary plant contains molecules (carnosol and carnosic acid) that have antioxidant activity. The latter is regulated from European Commission (2010/67/UE) as food additive for processed meat. The aim of this research work was: • to characterize chemical profile of REO (GC/MS) and E392 (HPLC/MS ion trap and SPME-GC/MS); • to analyze their antimicrobial and antioxidant properties; • to produce an innovative active packaging enriched with these natural additives; • and finally, to study the storage of packaged food. The shelf life of meat and derivatives has been widely studied by monitoring the follows freshness markers: biogenic amines (BAs), hexanal, microbial growth, pH and organoleptic properties. The major attention was focused on BAs, because they are considered markers of freshness and hygiene during storage of meat product, not only, an high level of BAs can form carcinogenic nitrosamines [3-4]. Ten BAs were analyzed and quantified by HPLC-DAD and a new fast method was developed with HPLC-MS/MS (Figure 1) [5]. REO results showed a good preservation of food, because the level of BAs, hexanal and bacteria were lower on food wrapped in the active packaging (Figure 2). Not only, the REO has a good inhibitory action against bacteria responsible to the formation of BAs [6]. The strong aroma of REO can change organoleptic qualities of meat, and this could affect consumers acceptance. To improve the shelf life of food, without changing the sensory properties, the active packaging was formulated with E392. This extract showed antioxidant properties, and sensorial analyses results confirm the quality of the active packaging, which does not changes the taste and flavor of packaged food. Preliminary analyses about BAs and bacteria showed interesting results on meat wrapped in active packaging enriched with E392. Finally, monitoring carnosol and carnosic acid concentrations, the conservation of E392 was investigated.