Effects of Thyme Extract and Essential Oil on the Quality of Thawed Chicken Breast During Refrigerated Storage

• Mustafa Hamza Mawlood AL BAYATI1*, Mohammed Mahmood Mohammed1, Sarwar Hama Amin1, Karzan Fatih Namiq2

  Author

The present study evaluated the efficacy of aqueous thyme extract and thyme essential oil as natural preservatives for maintaining the quality of thawed chicken breast meat during refrigerated storage. Five treatments were tested: untreated control, thyme aqueous extract (1%), thyme aqueous extract (2%), thyme essential oil (1%), and thyme essential oil (2%). Physicochemical parameters such as cooking loss, drip loss, water-holding capacity (WHC), pH, total volatile nitrogen (TVB-N), thiobarbituric acid (TBA) and free fatty acids (FFA) plus microbiological parameters (total plate count (TPC) and psychrotrophic bacterial count (PTC) were observed on storage days (0, 3, 6) at refrigeration temperature (4±1 ºC). As storage progressed, meat quality gradually decreased; however, the deterioration was significantly lower in thyme-treated samples compared with untreated samples. The treated samples generally exhibited lower cooking loss, drip loss, TVB-N, TBA, and FFA values compared with untreated samples. Microbiological tests also showed that both the thyme formulations effectively reduced the growth of the aerobic and psychrotrophic bacteria during storage. Among the tested treatments, 2% thyme essential oil showed the greatest overall preservation potential during refrigerated storage. The results in this study show that thyme-derived products, especially thyme essential oil (TEO), are potential natural preservative agents that can help to improve the physicochemical and microbiological stability of chilled chicken. Their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties suggest that thyme-derived products may serve as potential natural alternatives to reduce reliance on synthetic preservatives and to prolong the refrigerated shelf life of fresh meat.

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