Natural products used for food preservation

Abstract Preservation is one of the most important processes for quality assurance in nutrition science and food technology, requiring an interdisciplinary and integrated approach. Natural products and secondary metabolites are commonly used as antimicrobial and antioxidant biopreservatives, due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, low toxicity, safety, and cost efficiency: phenolic derivatives (simple phenols, polyphenolcarboxylic acids, floroglucinols, flavonoids, tannins), essential oils rich in monoterpenoids (geranial, 1,8-cineole, α-terpineol, linalool, borneol, camphor, carvacrol, thymol, limonene, p -cymene, α-pinene), and aromatic derivatives (eugenol, isoeugenol, eugenone, cinnamaldehyde), organosulfur compounds (thiosulfinates, allyl isothiocyanate), bacteriocins (nisin, pediocins, reuterin, sakacins, lactocin S, lacticin 3147, enterocins), lysozyme, lactoperoxidase system, lactoferrin, chitosan, vitamins, sugar, polysaccharides (starch, agarose), organic acids. High-quality standards in food producing, processing, and packaging require application of modern techniques (dehydration and freeze-drying, chilling, curing, vacuum and modified-atmosphere packaging, aseptic processing and packaging, hurdle technology, nanobiotechnology) and natural (or “green”) preservatives, as an alternative and safe approach to synthetic derivatives.