Agriculture Reference
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addition to chicken fat and lard (Banias
et al.
1992; Adegoke
et al.
1998; Che Man
and Tan 1999; Pokorný 2008), meat (McCarthy
et al.
2001) and fried foods
(Karpinska
et al.
2001).
Oregano (
Origanum vulgare L.
)
Oregano, being also a member of the
Labiatae
family, is similar to both rosemary
and sage in terms of chemical composition, and it is an effi cacious antioxidant for
various foods. It does not, however, contain the same high levels of carnosic acid
and carnosol compared to those found in rosemary (although its rosmarinic
content is comparable to that found in rosemary and sage) (Hernández-Hernández
et al.
2009). Additionally, oregano contains other, less polar, antioxidants identifi ed
as apigenin (fl avone), eriodictyol (fl avanone), dihydroquercetin (dihydrofl avonol)
and dihydrokaemferol (dihydrofl avonol). These showed high effi cacy in protecting
lard and vegetable oil against lipid oxidation (Vekiari
et al.
1993) (Fig. 5.5). Water
soluble glycosides, rosmarinic acid and rosmarinic acid congeners, in addition to
several polyhydroxy benzoic and cinnamic acids have been found in oregano
(Nakatani 1994) (Fig. 5.6). The essential oil of the oregano is also very active due
to the presence of carvacrol and thymol (Botsoglou
et al.
2002). Unfortunately, as
with any of the essential oils, the high fl avor levels of these ingredients greatly
limits their utility.
There are a number of studies that report successful protection of foods and
food model systems from oxidation through the addition of oregano including
vegetable oils (Pokorný
et al.
2001), lard (Banias
et al.
1992), oil-in-water fi sh oil
emulsions (Jimenez-Alvarez
et al.
2008) and meat (Hernández-Hernández
et al.
2009) (against color loss and lipid oxidation in raw pork batters). Supplementing
oregano oil in the diet can improve the quality of the meat in chicken (Botsoglou
Fig. 5.5
Non-polar compounds isolated from oregano.
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