Vol:.(1234567890) Food Measure (2017) 11:1412–1420 DOI 10.1007/s11694-017-9520-7 1 3 ORIGINAL PAPER Impact of diferent essential oils on the characteristics of refrigerated carp (Cyprinus carpio) ish ingers Mohammad Hasan Mohammad Abdeldaiem 1  · Hoda Gamal Mohammad Ali 1  · Mohamed Fawzy Ramadan 2   Received: 16 December 2016 / Accepted: 3 April 2017 / Published online: 9 April 2017 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017 Introduction Due to its high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), the inclusion of ish products in the human diet at least twice a week is recommended from the nutri- tional point of view [1]. Because of rapid urbanization, the demand for ready-to-serve food products is rising. Ready- to-serve food products do not spoil for a period of time due to the applied processing techniques. Studies were conducted to extend the shelf life of ish products and test the quality of sea food [2–9]. It was reported that ish balls containing raw or boiled anchovy had a shelf-life of 9 days at 4 °C [10]. Öksüztepe et al. [11] reported that fresh rain- bow trout ish balls containing 2% of sodium lactate had a shelf life of 16 days at 4 °C. A similar study carried out by Çapkin [12] pointed out that tench balls were consumable up to 10 days when preserved at 4 °C. The common carp (Cyprinus carpio) is one of the oldest domesticated species of edible ish. Carp is majorly utilized as a food ish, and is consumed in fresh, chopped, and pro- cessed forms. Carp is particularly popular as an ingredient in local special dishes or seasonal celebration dishes [3, 13, 14]. Carp have a low commercial value due to the presence of ine spines in the lesh. It is one of the most perishable lesh food as fresh ish or its illets became unacceptable often about one week upon refrigerated storage. Thus, for economic utilization of common carp ish, a suitable pro- cessing technique is needed [15]. Aromatic plants and essential oils (EO) have been commonly used to ensure the microbiological safety of food products and to extend their shelf-life. The herbs and spices have been used for many centuries to improve sensory or lavor characteristics and to extend the shelf-life of foods. Thus, research has been carried out assessing the antioxidant activity of many herbs, herbal Abstract The present work aims to investigate the impact of rosemary (Rosmarinus oicinalis), cinnamon (Cinnamo- mum verum), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), and cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) essential oils on the microbiologi- cal, chemical, and sensory characteristics of carp (Cypri- nus carpio) ish lesh ingers (CFF) during cold storage at 4 °C. The results showed that treatments with essen- tial oils reduced the initial total bacterial count, psychro- philic bacteria, total mold and yeast as well as prolonged the shelf-life of treated-CFF samples compared to control. The counts of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus were reduced. During cold storage, thio- barbituric acid reactive substances, total volatile nitrogen (TVN) and trimethylamine (TMA) contents were gradu- ally increased. The results of sensory evaluation showed that the shelf life of CFF was 4 days for the control sam- ples, and 12, 10, 8, and 6 days for the samples treated with rosemary, cinnamon, fennel, and cardamom essential oils, respectively. In conclusion, the addition of essential oils (in particular rosemary oil) showed positive efects on the CFF shelf-life and quality traits. According to the results, essen- tial oils under study might be used as a potential source of natural antioxidant and antimicrobial agents. Keywords Food quality · Antioxidants · Cold storage · Psychrophilic bacteria · Escherichia coli · Bacillus cereus · Trimethylamine * Mohammad Hasan Mohammad Abdeldaiem abdeldaiem2015@yahoo.com 1 Atomic Energy Authority, Nuclear Research Center, P.O. Box 13759d, Inshase, Egypt 2 Agricultural Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt