8. Food preservation and anti-spoilage
The lipid peroxidation in food causes oxidative stress leading to the development of rancidity, unpleasant tastes and odours as well as changes in colour and losses of nutritional value. The synthetic antioxidants viz. butylated hydroxyl anisole (BHA) and BHT have been in use in foods, but the safety of such synthetic antioxidants has been doubted due to their toxicity liver damage and carcinogenicity. The C. sativum possesses excellent antioxidant activity and it is stable at high temperatures and, thus can be used as the substitute for synthetic antioxidant. Having antibacterial, antifungal and anti-oxidative activities the C. sarivum EO prevents spoilage of foods seasoned with the EO playing a great role in food preservation. Darughe et al., demonstrated that the C. sativum EO (0.05% 0.15%) inhibited the rate of primary and secondary oxidation product formation in cake, and their effects were almost equal to BHA(0.02%); after 30 days of storage, acidity of control and cake samples containing BHA(0.01% and 0.02%) was higher than in cakes containing different concentrations of coriander EO(0.05%-0.15%). The Italian processed food, salami, with coriander EO remained stable during the entire period of storage maintaining the peroxide value, and TBARS values compared to those of the products without antioxidant coriander EO presented stronger effect than that of BHT on the retardation of lipid oxidation, thus increasing the shelf life of the product.