The Effect of Chitosan Coating Along with Essential Oil (Ferula gummosa Boiss) on the Quality Properties of Chicken Breast

Using food coatings containing essential oils with antioxidant and antibacterial properties helps to increase the shelf-life of meat products. This study investigated the effect of chitosan coating with different concentrations of Barijah essential oil (0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2%) on the quality of chicken breast during 12 days of cold storage.

First, the antibacterial properties of Barijah essential oil were measured, and then after coating the chicken breasts, the qualitative properties namely color, bacteriological, and general acceptance characteristics were evaluated.

The results showed Barijah essence was more effective on Bacillus cereus bacteria than Escherichia coli (p<0.05). Coating the samples significantly improved the moisture and pH characteristics of chicken breast (p<0.05). The coating slowed down lipid oxidation and the formation of volatile nitrogen compounds in treatment (p<0.05). It also caused the tissue stiffness of the samples to be maintained (p<0.05). The color index showed that the use of coatings caused a decrease in the L* and a* values while the b* value increased (p<0.05). Microbial spoilage in the coated samples was significantly reduced as compared to the control sample (p<0.05). Samples containing 2% Barijah essence had better results than other treatments in all tests (p<0.05).  The acceptability of the treatment containing 1 and 2% Barig essence was the same and higher than other treatments (p<0.05).

The results showed that using chitosan with in essential oil of Barijah as a natural preservative increases the shelf life of meat products.