Original article Oxidative stability of brined anchovies (Engraulis encrasicholus) with plant extracts Sadettin Turhan,* Inci Sagir & Hasan Temiz Department of Food Engineering, Ondokuz Mayis University, 55139 Kurupelit, Samsun, Turkey (Received 23 January 2008; Accepted in revised form 16 April 2008) Summary The effect of brining with plant extracts on the oxidative stability of anchovies was investigated during storage. The brining process was done in 15 g 100 mL )1 of sodium chloride solution with water, and with myrtle, rosemary and nettle extracts. Brined anchovies were stored at 4 ± 1 °C for 28 days. Brining with plant extracts slowed down the lipid oxidation of anchovies. The highest antioxidant effect was observed in brined anchovies with rosemary and myrtle extracts during storage as indicated by peroxide value (POV), thiobarbituric acid reactive substance and oxidative rancidity (OR) scores. Furthermore, OR scores in brined anchovies were well correlated with thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (r 2 = 0.66, P < 0.01) and POV (r 2 = 0.87; P < 0.01). The fatty acid profiles were similar among the brined anchovies with plant extracts. These results suggest that brining with rosemary, myrtle and to a lesser extent, nettle extracts prevents development of oxidation in lipids of anchovies during storage. Keywords Anchovy, myrtle, natural antioxidant, nettle, oxidative stability, rosemary. Introduction Anchovies (Engraulis encrasicholus) are small salt water fish of approximately 12 cm in length. They comprise around 54% of the total fishery products in Turkey, the catch was reported as 320 000 ts in 2001 (SYT, 2002). Most of the anchovy is consumed as fresh and the rest is processed into fishmeal and oil in Turkey. Consumption of anchovy is limited to its fishing season because of lack of alternative processing methods. Preservation of anchovy by freezing in Turkey is not economical in most parts of the country. Locally, salting is used as an alternative means of preservation to allow consumption of anchovy during the off-season (Karacam et al., 2002). A major cause of salted fish deterioration is oxidative rancidity (OR) (Mol & Ozden, 2004), as anchovy contain a high level of unsaturated fatty acids and its muscle also has a high concentration of metals (Vareltzis et al., 1997; Ashton, 2002). In addition, sodium chloride is known to be a pro-oxidant (Ladikos & Lougovois, 1990). The oxidation process greatly reduces the nutri- tional value of lipids and leads to the development of undesirable rancidity and potentially toxic reaction products (Tang et al., 2001). Therefore, the retardation of the oxidation process is important. Synthetic antiox- idants, especially butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene and propyl gallate are commonly used to prevent the oxidation process (Ashton, 2002). The use of these synthetic antioxidants, however, has begun to be restricted because of their toxicity and carcinogenic- ity (Vareltzis et al., 1997; Serdaroglu & Felekoglu, 2005). In addition, synthetic antioxidants have limited applications because of their low water solubility (Bek- hit et al., 2003). There is, therefore, a growing interest in the identification of new, natural antioxidants that would serve as alternatives to the synthetic compounds. Extracts obtained from some plants have been reported to be effective antioxidants. The antioxidant properties of plants are related to their phenolic contents (Ashton, 2002). Myrtle (Myrtus communis myrtillus L.), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) and nettle (Urtica dioica) are grown naturally in Turkey and they are used for various purposes as traditional medicines (Akarpat et al., 2008). Myrtle is a typical representative of the Mediterranean flora. Ancient Greeks and Romans used myrtle as an ornamental and aromatic plant. More recently, this plant has been reported as a source of natural antioxidants (Romani et al., 2004; Feisst et al., 2005; Akarpat et al., 2008). The antioxidative activity of myrtle extracts is primarily related to galloyl-glucosides, ellagitannins and galloyl-quinic acids (Romani et al., 2004). Nettle is used to treat stomachache in traditional Turkish medicine. In addition, this herb is used to treat rheumatic pain and for colds and cough and is used against liver insufficiency (Gulcin et al., 2004a). *Correspondent: Fax: +90 362 457 6034; e-mail: sturhan@omu.edu.tr International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2009, 44, 386–393 386 doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.2008.01777.x Ó 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation Ó 2008 Institute of Food Science and Technology