At present, most of the food preservatives are synthetic chemicals, such as benzoic acid, sodium benzoate, sorbic acid, potassium sorbate, calcium propionate, etc. Although the appropriate amount of preservatives will not cause harm to human body, it does not have any health benefits.

 

Under the guidance of the concept of healthy diet, natural preservatives gradually replace artificial preservatives, such as nisin and Monascus oryzae from microorganisms, lysozyme, chitosan, protamine and propolis from animals, tea polyphenols and garlic extracts from plants. Many plant ingredients have the characteristics of sterilization and insecticidal, and have certain health care function to human body, so plant extracts will play an increasingly important role in the field of food preservatives. The following plant extracts are natural preservatives widely used in food industry.

Pomegranate peel extract: a natural preservative for meat

 

Pomegranate peel, which is thick and hard to peel, has anti diarrhea, hemostasis and anthelmintic effects as a traditional Chinese medicine. However, scientists from India have found that pomegranate peel extract has a marvelous effect on the preservation of meat, which can keep the freshness of meat for a week without affecting the taste of the meat without freezing. You know, in a refrigerated environment, meat can only keep fresh for two days at most, and after freezing, the taste and nutritional value of meat will be greatly reduced.

 

Pomegranate peel contains a variety of alkaloids. The antibacterial test shows that the alcohol extract and Peel Decoction of pomegranate have broad-spectrum antibacterial effect, and have obvious inhibitory effect on a variety of bacteria and fungi.

 

In normal temperature environment, fresh meat will breed various bacteria within one day, such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, etc. eating this meat will lead to serious diseases, such as abdominal colic, headache, fever, diarrhea, if not treated in time, even lead to death. Therefore, the food industry will add preservatives to inhibit the growth of microorganisms to extend the shelf life of food.

 

Mutton is more difficult to preserve than pork and beef. If it is cut off, it can only keep fresh for 6 hours without refrigeration. At present, there is no technology that can make the storage life of fresh mutton exceed 20 hours without chemical preservatives. However, by injecting the special substances extracted from pomegranate peel into mutton, the meat can be effectively prevented from rotting and breeding bacteria.

 

Although the pomegranate peel extract has been studied mainly on mutton, it can also play a role in chicken and pork, the scientists said.

 

Green tea extract: a natural preservative for pastry

 

Tea polyphenol is an active component extracted from green tea leaves. It not only has the health functions of antioxidant and scavenging free radicals, but also is a kind of antiseptic for sterilization and detoxification. It can kill botulinum and spores, inhibit the activity of bacterial exotoxin, and has obvious inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus and variant bacillus.

 

Tea polyphenols have been widely used in food industry as antioxidants and preservatives. According to the standards for the use of food additives in China, tea polyphenols can be used in oil, moon cake, ham and other foods. Adding tea polyphenols to meat products can make the protein and tea polyphenols on the surface of meat products form a layer of airtight dura mater, which can inhibit the oxidation and rancidity of meat products and the growth of bacteria, and prevent the deterioration of meat products. In addition, tea polyphenols have the function of inhibiting the oxidation and rancidity of oils and fats, and are widely used in the fields of edible animal and vegetable oils, fried foods and aquatic products.

 

Cake is the most suitable food to add tea polyphenols. It can not only solve the antisepsis of baked food such as moon cake and cake, but also the taste of green tea Matcha blended with tea polyphenols is a kind of popular flavor which can increase the flavor and taste of food.

Garlic extract: the strongest plant preservative

 

Garlic extract is allicin. Allicin can activate cells, promote energy production, increase antibacterial and antiviral activities, and has a strong killing effect on Gram-positive bacteria and Gram-negative bacteria. Japanese scholars have found that garlic has strong inhibition and killing effect on dozens of bacteria and fungi that cause food spoilage, and its action intensity is equivalent to or even stronger than chemical preservatives benzoic acid and sorbic acid. Garlic is one of the most effective natural plants.

 

Allicin has a special effect on the preservation of fruits and vegetables. Garlic extract can significantly improve the flavor and color of the fruit, improve the quality of the fruit, reduce the turning red index and decay rate, inhibit the loss of vitamin C content, and retain the nutrients to a large extent.

 

Cinnamon extract: a natural fruit preservative

 

Cinnamon and cinnamaldehyde extracts have strong anti-tumor effects. The antifungal effects of cinnamaldehyde on 22 conditional pathogenic fungi were studied by foreign researchers. The results showed that cinnamaldehyde had antibacterial effect on all tested strains.

 

Cinnamaldehyde can be used in the preservation and preservation of grains, vegetables and fruits; in fruit products, it can improve the taste and flavor; it can also replace sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate in tea drinks; it can also be used in wine to make it bright.

 

China is a big fruit producing country in the world. Due to the perishability of fruits and the influence of seasonal and regional factors, preservation of fruits is very important. At present, there are more than 20 preservatives used in fruit storage and transportation in China, such as carbendazim, thiabendazole, thiophanate methyl, sulfur dioxide, etc. These preservatives have certain toxicity and will affect the taste of fruits.

 

Cinnamaldehyde has the advantages of low toxicity, safety, low cost and aromatic smell. As a safe natural source material, the use dose of cinnamaldehyde as preservative is not specified in the national food safety standard for the use of food additives. In view of its many advantages, cinnamaldehyde is expected to become the most common preservative for fruits.