Using Red Grape Seed Essential Oil Nanoemulsion (Vitis Vinifera) for Improvement of Chemicals and Bacteria Indices and Increasing the Shelf Life of Fresh Packaged Chicken Fillets at Refrigerated Temperature

Chicken fillet is one of the most popular food products made from chicken. Microbial growth and oxidation of lipids are the primary factors of spoilage of this product in refrigerated conditions. Chicken fillet samples were prepared in the form of a control sample and a treatment with grape seed essential oil and 4 treatments with concentrations of 1, 2 and 5% grape seed essential oil nanoemulsion and were kept in a refrigerator (4 and 8 °C) for 14 days. During this period, all the samples were evaluated and compared by performing microbial, chemical and sensory tests at different time intervals. Two-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the data, and Duncan's multiple range test was used to compare their averages. The results showed that the samples treated with different concentrations of grape seed nanoemulsion compared to the control sample had lower bacterial counts and lower total volatile nitrogen and proxid value throughout the study period. Samples treated with 5% concentration of grape seed essential oil nanoemulsion were more effective in increasing shelf life compared to concentrations of 1 and 2%. Also, the overall acceptance of the sample with 5% essential oil nanoemulsion up to day 7 had a score of 3.12±0.11. Therefore, it can be concluded that grape seed essential oil nanoemulsion can increase the shelf life of fresh packaged chicken fillet in refrigerated conditions by delaying microbial and chemical spoilage and improving sensory characteristics.