The total phenolic and total flavonoid contents of rosemary was lower than those of cloves. Cloves exhibited a higher DPPH radical scavenging activity than that of rosemary. However, the ferrous ion-chelating effect of rosemary was significantly higher than that of cloves. The pH, instrumental colour (CIE L*, a*, b*), total viable counts (TVC), lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts, Enterobacteriaceae counts,Pseudomonas spp. counts and 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were determined at 3-day intervals over a period of 15 days.