Antimicrobial Effect of Some Essential Oils on Some Pathogenic Bacteria in Minced Meat

Plant essential oils (EOs) serve as a “safe” alternative to chemical or synthetic antimicrobials and antioxidants to struggle with the food borne pathogens or spoilage organisms, inhibiting lipid oxidation so, the effect of some essential oils as thyme (thymus vulgaris), cinnamon (cinnamomum zeylanicum) and garlic (Allium sativum) at concentrations (1%) as natural preservatives as well as their ability to increase the shelf life of minced meat, and also their effects on bacterial agents as Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli and sensory properties of minced meat after 3 hrs, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th day during cold storage at 4°C. The obtained results showed that treated samples revealed decreasing values of S. aureus and E. coli counts and improving sensory properties than untreated samples (control) ones. Also, thyme oil at concentration (1%) was more effective than cinnamon and garlic oils.