Development of natural preservatives with antibacterial activities that prolong the shelf-life of meat is desirable. Application of chitosan to fresh poultry meat (e.g. turkey breast meat) has received little attention. Recently, it was shown that chitosan applied either singly, or in combination with oregano essential oil (EO) extended the shelf-life of modified atmosphere packaged chicken filets by 6 and 14 days, respectively (Petrou et al., 2012). Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, the effect of chitosan or rosemary oil, singly or combined on fresh turkey breast meat stored under VP at 2 °C has not been investigated. Thus, the objectives of the present study were to (1) study the effect of chitosan and rosemary EO on the quality characteristics of fresh turkey meat and (2) determine the shelf-life of the product stored under vacuum, both in the absence or presence of chitosan, rosemary oil and/or their combination using microbiological and sensory parameters at 2 °C.