Improvement of oxidative stability, microbiological and sensory properties, and shelf life of chicken breast meat using Artemisia fragrans essential oil-loaded oleogel coating

The effects of an oleogel coating with Artemisia fragrans essential oil (OG-AFEO) (0.5%, 1%, and 1.5%), on the physicochemical, microbiological, and quality attributes of chicken meat were investigated. Four treatment groups were evaluated: uncoated chicken, and oleogel coatings containing 0.5%, 1%, or 1.5% AFEO. All chicken meats were stored under refrigerated storage (4 °C) for 12 days. The present study showed that the oleogel coating + AFEO had no significant effect on the chemical composition (protein, ash, fat, and water content). The incorporation of AFEO into the oleogel coating resulted in a remarkable decrease (p < .05) in total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), pH, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances analysis values and an increase in total phenolic content at the end of the storage period. The results of the microbiological analysis indicated that coliforms, total viable count, yeasts, and moulds were significantly (p < .05) lower in all treated meats, especially in the coated sample with OG-AFEO 1.5% (2.23, 5.43, and 3.97 Log CFU/g, respectively, compared to 7.38, 8.05, and 6.86 Log CFU/g in uncoated samples) at the end of storage. Based on the standards for fresh poultry, OG-AFEO 1.5% maintained microbial counts within acceptable limits up to Day 8. Furthermore, the acceptable TVB-N limit for freshness (25 mg/100 g) was exceeded by the uncoated chicken on Day 5, whereas the OG-AFEO 1.5% coated sample remained below this limit until Day 8 (20.74 mg/100 g). The textural analysis also showed that increasing the AFEO concentration can potentially increase the hardness values of the meat samples. The sensory results indicated that coated samples had higher overall acceptability scores compared to the uncoated meat. Therefore, the present work evaluated the performance of OG-AFEO in improving the storage quality of chicken meat to develop an efficient and novel coating for meat and meat products.