Extending the Shelf Life of Fresh Camel Sausage by Integration of Cuminum Cyminum L. Essential Oil

Fresh sausage has a short shelf life  and is easily spoiled at refrigerated condition. The object of the current research was to assess the effect of Cuminum cyminum L. essential oil (CCEO) (0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2% v/v) on the shelf life extension of fresh camel sausage within storage at 4oC for 15 days. Based on the microbiological findings, integration of CCEO significantly (p<0.05) retarded microbial growth in the sausage compared to the control group. Mesophilic bacterial count (MBC) reached to upper microbiological permissible limit, 7 log CFU/g, on day 5 in control samples, on day 7 in samples containing 0.05% or 0.1 % CCEO and on day 15 in samples containing 0.2 % CCEO. Based on chemical findings, on the last day of the storage period, the total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N) value in the control samples increased to 39.75 mg/100g. At the end of the research, a significant (p<0.05) reduction (approximately 6.29-11.85 mg/100g) was found out in the final TVB-N of samples integrated with CCEO compared to the control samples. The peroxide value (PV) for the control sample was 4.49 meq/1000g of lipid, meanwhile, the PV values for the treated samples remained lower as 3.25 meq/1000g of lipid at the final step of the study. Regarding sensory attributes, adding 0.05 % and 0.1% of CCEO results in slight adverse effect on the sensory characteristics (p>0.05). The results of this study revealed that the integration of CCEO to fresh camel sausages is a practical method to increase its shelf life.