1 3 Eur Food Res Technol DOI 10.1007/s00217-017-2905-3 ORIGINAL PAPER Preservation of fresh ground beef patties using plant extracts combined with a modified atmosphere packaging Lynda Bouarab-Chibane 1 · Balkis Ouled-Bouhedda 1 · Lucie Leonard 1 · Laetitia Gemelas 2 · Jalloul Bouajila 3 · Hicham Ferhout 4 · Amandine Cottaz 1 · Catherine Joly 1 · Pascal Degraeve 1 · Nadia Oulahal 1 Received: 12 January 2017 / Revised: 29 March 2017 / Accepted: 6 May 2017 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017 (P < 0.05). While all plant extracts significantly inhibited the in vitro growth of at least 1 from the 6 unwanted bacte- rial strains which were tested, their effect on total viable and psychrotrophic bacterial counts in beef patties was not significant (P > 0.05). In vitro and in situ antioxidant activi- ties of plant extracts were correlated with their total phe- nolic content (R 2 = 0.99) unlike in vitro (R 2 = 0.18) and in situ (R 2 = 0.17) antibacterial activities. Interestingly, pomegranate peel extract and Gaillac red wine powder retarded lipid oxidation and color variation, and maintained the redness index of meat. Keywords Raw ground beef · Plant extracts · Phenolics · Antioxidant · Antibacterial · Preservation Introduction Natural preservatives are increasingly considered as an alternative approach for controlling oxidation and growth of microorganisms in food [1]. In the last few decades, research interest has focused on the use of agriculture prod- ucts and by-products as a potential source of natural pre- servatives. Promising in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of several plant derived by-products have been reported [2]. Several studies have provided useful informa- tion on the utilization of by-products (peels, seeds, pulps, and husks) of different fruits and vegetables as natural antioxidants and antimicrobials in foods [3]. Since most of these plant extracts provide phenolic compounds which are natural antimicrobials and antioxidants, it is important to quantify phenolic content and to assess its contribution to their antioxidant and antibacterial activities. Among natu- ral antioxidants, phenolic-rich extracts like those derived from the vine and wine industries (e.g. grape seed extract) Abstract High oxygen modified atmosphere packaging of raw ground beef patties favors bright red oxymyoglobin color but also lipid oxidation. Therefore, the effect of the addition of phenolic-rich plant extracts selected for their in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activities on micro- biological (total viable count, psychrotrophic aerobic bac- teria, and coliforms), physico-chemical [pH, exudate mass, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS)], and organoleptic (instrumental color and sensory analysis of cooked patties) quality attributes of beef patties was mon- itored for 12 days at 4 °C in a high oxygen atmosphere. Prune flesh, pomegranate peel, green tea leaves, grape seed extracts, and Gaillac red wine powder were added at 10 g kg -1 in beef patties. All extracts except prune flesh extract, which had the lowest total phenolic content (3.4 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE) g -1 against from 81.2 to 570.0 mg GAE g -1 in other extracts), reduced the increase in TBARS in beef patties over 12 days by more than 93% * Pascal Degraeve pascal.degraeve@univ-lyon1.fr 1 Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, ISARA Lyon, BioDyMIA (Bioingénierie et Dynamique Microbienne Aux Interfaces Alimentaires), Equipe Mixte d’Accueil n°3733, IUT Lyon 1, Technopole Alimentec, Rue Henri de Boissieu, 01000 Bourg en Bresse, France 2 Univ Lyon, ISARA Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, BioDyMIA (Bioingénierie et Dynamique Microbienne Aux Interfaces Alimentaires), Equipe Mixte d’Accueil n°3733, 23 Rue Jean Baldassini, 69364 Lyon cedex 07, France 3 Faculté de Pharmacie de Toulouse, Laboratoire des IMRCP, UMR CNRS, Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, 5623, 31062 Toulouse, France 4 Nat’ex Biotech, Avenue Louis Breguet, 31400 Toulouse, France