The antimicrobial and antioxidant effects of two spice extracts and their combination on raw chicken meat during storage for 15 days at 4°C were studied. Raw chicken meat was treated with BHT (positive control), rosemary (RO), cloves (CL), and their combination, and the results were compared to those obtained for raw chicken meat without any additive (negative control). The antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of spice extracts were determined. 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. The bacterial counts of T-RO-CL samples were lower than those of control samples during storage. T-RO-CL samples maintained significantly (P<0.05) higher L*, a* and b* values during storage. The TBARS values of T-RO-CL samples were the lowest among the samples. These results demonstrate that spice extracts are highly effective against microbial growth and lipid oxidation and show potential as a natural antioxidant in raw chicken meats

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of clove extract (CE) (0.25%, 0.5%, 1%, and 2%) on the oxidative stability and quality deterioration of Chinese-style sausage stored for 21 d at 4°C. The addition of clove extract to sausages significantly retarded increases in Thiobarbituric Reactive Substances (TBARS) values (p<0.05), while also controlling the production of protein carbonyls (p<0.05). However, the addition of clove extract promoted reduced thiol group content in sausages (p<0.05). Sausages amended with clove extract also had decreased L* values (p<0.05) and increased a* values (p<0.05) when compared with the control. Similarly, texture deterioration was retarded in sausage containing added clove extract when compared with the control during refrigerated storage. Moreover, the addition of clove extract had no negative effects on the sensory properties of sausages. These results suggested that clove extract was effective at protecting sausages from oxidation and quality deterioration during refrigerated storage for 21 d.