Medical Applications of Essential Oils

**3**

**Chapter 1**

**Abstract**

in Iran and other countries.

**1. Introduction**

Applications of Medicinal Herbs

and Essential Oils in Food Safety

In the last few years, more and more studies on the biological properties of essential oils (EOs) especially antimicrobial and antioxidant properties in vitro and food model have been published in all parts of the world. But so far no comprehensive reports of these studies have been reported in food model from Iran. The focus of this overview lies in the using of EOs from some indigenous medicinal plants of Iran (including *Mentha longifolia*, *Cuminum cyminum*, *Teucrium polium*, *Pimpinella anisum* and *Allium ascalonicum*) in probiotic dairy products (especially cheese, yoghurt and Aryan) in recent years. Recently, consumers have developed an ever-increasing interest in natural products as alternatives for artificial additives or pharmacologically relevant agents. Among them, EOs have gained great popularity in the food, cosmetic as well as pharmaceutical industries. Despite the reportedly strong antimicrobial activity of EOs against food-borne pathogens and spoilage microorganisms, their practical application as preservatives is currently limited owing to the undesirable flavour changes they cause in food products. Nonetheless, more studies are necessary to the applicability of various EOs on other food models

**Keywords:** EOs, functional dairy foods, natural preservative, sensory quality

natural materials as antimicrobial additives in food [2].

Today, due to the adverse effects of chemical preservatives, regarding the carcinogenic potential and toxicity to humans, as well as the high levels of antimicrobial agents present in plants, there is a growing interest in the use of natural preservatives derived from natural sources [1]. Food storage methods which maintain the quality and extend the shelf life of food because of improved production, supply and trading are important. Humans are familiar in keeping foods by different methods such as the use of heating, cooling, salting, etc. a long time ago, but for inhibition of pathogen growth and also prevention of food spoilage, a new method is more in need; therefore one of these methods is the use of essential oils and

Essential oils are composed of lipophilic and highly volatile secondary plant metabolites [3]. As defined by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), the term "EOs" is reserved for a product obtained from vegetable raw material, either by distillation with water or steam, or from the epicarp of citrus fruits by a mechanical process, or by dry distillation, that is, by physical means only. EOs have been proposed as natural preservatives and are used as alternatives for the control of pathogenic microorganisms. Herbal EOs are aromatic oil liquids, extracted from

*Razzagh Mahmoudi, Ata Kaboudari and Babak Pakbin*
