Anti-bacterial effect of Rosmarinus officinalis Linn. extract and Origanum syriacum L. essential oil on survival and growth of total aerobic bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus using cooked chicken meat

In developed countries poultry support many poor families through their food and livelihood (Scanes, 2007; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2008, 2020). For those, poultry meats consider one of the cheapest and easily available food protein sources (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013; Kralik et al., 2017; Marangoni et al., 2015). Therefore, improving preservation technology is required, and highly supports food chain values to achieve better meat quality and safety (Scanes, 2007; Saranraj et al., 2016; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2020). In meat consumption, several food-borne diseases (FBD) may occur and increase the cost of hospitalization, illness, and death even in high income countries such as USA (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). The major FBD (over 90% of food related illness) usually are caused by bacteria, as estimated by CDC-USA center recently. The US-CDC was reported two major group of food borne illnesses: 1) Known food-borne pathogens (FBP) (31 pathogens) and 2) Unspecified agents. However, Staphylococcus aureus consider one of the most important (top five germs) foodborne diseases which may transfer by meat and their products (Kadariya et al., 2014; American Meat Science Association, 2017). For instance, 241,000 illnesses per year caused by Staph. aureus contamination were estimated in the United States, and still consider challenging (Scallan et al., 2011; Al-Hijazeen & Al-Rawashdeh, 2019). Survival of Staph. aureus strains supressed by achieving optimum cooking and refrigeration temperatures, advanced packaging technology, good manufacturing practices, and perhaps by adding synthetic additives (Dinges et al., 2000; Kadariya et al., 2014; Saranraj et al., 2016). These synthetic additives extend meat shelf life, and improve their quality and safety (Al-Hijazeen, 2019; Al-Hijazeen & Al-Rawashdeh, 2019). Synthetic antimicrobial/antioxidant additive such as BHA, BHT, and nitrite/nitrate, are widely used in processed meat industry (Sebranek & Bacus, 2007; Ahn et al., 2007; Kumar et al., 2015; Majou & Christieans, 2018). However, these synthetic ingredients are questionable, and adversely may affect human health (Oostindjer et al., 2014; Saeed et al., 2019). Now days, researchers interested more in using natural food additives which consider safer alternative (Kumar et al., 2015; Al-Hijazeen, 2019). These plants essential oils and their varieties extracts are well tested, and documented of their positive antimicrobial effect (Kumar et al., 2015; Hintz et al., 2015; Quinto et al., 2019). For instance, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, garlic and many medicinal plants and their extracts showed positive antimicrobial effect in both raw and cooked meat products (Hintz et al., 2015; Al-Hijazeen et al., 2016; Kumar et al., 2015; Al-Hijazeen, 2019; Al-Hijazeen & Al-Rawashdeh, 2019; Quinto et al., 2019). Oregano essential oil (OE) antioxidant/antimicrobial action arising from their polyphenolic constituents: Carvacrol and thymol (78-82% of its composition), which are responsible on most of their preservation effect (Adam et al., 1998; Yanishlieva et al., 1999). In addition, they are main components of the OE responsible on Anti-bacterial effect of Rosmarinus officinalis Linn. extract and Origanum syriacum L. essential oil on survival and growth of total aerobic bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus using cooked chicken meat