Effects of the addition of microencapsulated aromatic herb extracts on fatty acid profile of different meat products

Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of addition of microencapsulated natural extracts of aromatic herbs in comparison with synthetic antioxidants on fatty acids profile of different meat products (restructured product of Tilapia mechanically separated fish meat (RP) and Fresh pork sausage (FS) stored under freezing and cold storage. Synthetic antioxidant sodium erythorbate was used in the RP and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) was used in the FS. Natural oregano extract (Origanum vulgare) was used in the RP, while the rosemary extract (Rosmarinus officinalis) was used in the FS. The fatty acid profiles of each formulation were obtained by gas chromatography (GC-MS). The oleic acid was the most abundant compound in both evaluated products, also, during the observed storage period there was an increase in SFA and MUFA composition (p < 0.05) in all the treatments. However, the treatments with addition of synthetic antioxidant and microcapsules loaded with different content of aromatic herb extracts showed similar behavior. Moreover, the addition of microencapsulated aromatic herb extracts increased the content of PUFA, improving the nutritional quality indexes in both RP and FS. Our results infer that the addition of oregano and rosemary extracts have antioxidant potential equivalent to synthetic antioxidants.