Phenols recovered from olive mill wastewater as additives in meat products

The current trend in the food industries is the utilization of natural additives that exist inherently in foods and sound healthier to the consumers, This review explores the possibility of utilizing natural, phenol-rich extracts recovered from olive mill wastewater to fortify meat and meat products as well as to increase the preservation of the latest in the shelf. The utilization of natural antioxidants as additives in meat and meat products is denoted in comparison to the advantages of synthetic preservatives. To this prospect, the antioxidant capacity of olive phenols is discussed and compared with this of raw and pure natural antioxidants. The in vitro and in situ applications of olive phenols against lipid peroxidation, meat colour stability are reported together with their application as antimicrobial agents. The implementation of olive phenols as additives in the meat sector has great potentiality due to the fact that they can provide multidimensional improvement of stored meat products, namely colour retaining, retardation of microbial growth, retardation of fats deterioration and ultimately extended shelf-life. •Fortification of meat products with phenol-rich extracts from olive mill wastewater is discussed.•Antioxidant capacity of olive phenols is discussed in comparison to raw and pure natural antioxidants.•In vitro and in situ applications of olive phenols against lipid peroxidation and meat colour stability.•Fortification of meat products with olive phenols as antimicrobial agents is referred.