Spice Essential and Oleoresins: Natural Food Preservatives

There is at present increasing interest both in the industry and in scientific research for spices and aromatic herbs because of their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. These properties are mainly due to many active phytochemicals, including vitamins, flavonoids, terpenoids, carotenoids, cumrins and curcumins etc. They are considered to be essential in diets or medical therapies for decaying aging and biological tissues deterioration due to free radicals. Moreover, their antioxidant properties render spices and aromatic herbs very important as preservative agents in food, and antimicrobial properties are attributed to their essential oils and oleoresins. This characterstic is of a great interest for the food industry because it offers the possibility to substitute natural for synthetic preservatives.