Patel Seema
a Bioinformatics and Medical Informatics Research Center , San Diego State University , San Diego , CA , USA.
Food Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess. 2015;32(7):1049-64. doi: 10.1080/19440049.2015.1040081. Epub 2015 May 8.
Essential oils are concentrated aromatic volatile compounds derived from botanicals by distillation or mechanical pressing. They play multiple, crucial roles as antioxidants, food pathogen inhibitors, shelf-life enhancers, texture promoters, organoleptic agents and toxicity-reducing agents. For their versatility, they appear promising as food preservatives. Several research findings in recent times have validated their potential as functional ingredients in meat and fish processing. Among the assortment of bioactive compounds in the essential oils, p-cymene, thymol, eugenol, carvacrol, isothiocyanate, cinnamaldehyde, cuminaldehyde, linalool, 1,8-cineol, α-pinene, α-terpineol, γ-terpinene, citral and methyl chavicol are most familiar. These terpenes (monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes) and phenolics (alcohols, esters, aldehydes and ketones) have been extracted from culinary herbs such as oregano, rosemary, basil, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, mint, sage and lavender as well as from trees such as myrtle, fir and eucalyptus. This review presents essential oils as alternatives to conventional chemical additives. Their synergistic actions with modified air packaging, irradiation, edible films, bacteriocins and plant byproducts are discussed. The decisive roles of metabolic engineering, microwave technology and metabolomics in quality and quantity augmentation of essential oil are briefly mooted. The limitations encountered and strategies to overcome them have been illuminated to pave way for their enhanced popularisation. The literature has been mined from scientific databases such as Pubmed, Pubchem, Scopus and SciFinder.
精油是通过蒸馏或机械压榨从植物中提取的浓缩芳香挥发性化合物。它们作为抗氧化剂、食品病原体抑制剂、保质期延长剂、质地促进剂、感官剂和毒性降低剂发挥着多种关键作用。由于其多功能性，它们有望成为食品防腐剂。近年来的几项研究结果证实了它们作为肉类和鱼类加工中功能成分的潜力。在精油中的各种生物活性化合物中，对伞花烃、百里香酚、丁香酚、香芹酚、异硫氰酸酯、肉桂醛、枯茗醛、芳樟醇、1,8-桉叶素、α-蒎烯、α-萜品醇、γ-萜品烯、柠檬醛和甲基丁香酚最为常见。这些萜类化合物（单萜和倍半萜）和酚类化合物（醇、酯、醛和酮）已从牛至、迷迭香、罗勒、香菜、孜然、肉桂、薄荷、鼠尾草和薰衣草等烹饪香草以及桃金娘、冷杉和桉树等树木中提取。本综述介绍了精油作为传统化学添加剂的替代品。讨论了它们与气调包装、辐照、可食用薄膜、细菌素和植物副产品的协同作用。简要讨论了代谢工程、微波技术和代谢组学在精油质量和产量提高方面的决定性作用。阐述了遇到的限制以及克服这些限制的策略，为其进一步推广铺平道路。文献来自PubMed、PubChem、Scopus和SciFinder等科学数据库。
