## 3 Results and Discussion
### Microbiological Quality of Chicken Meatballs
  
**Psychotrophic bacteria (CFU/g)**  
1 & \(1.0\times 10^{1\text{\,th}}\pm 2.6\times 10^{2}\) & \(1.9\times 10^{4\text{\,th}}\pm 1.4\times 10^{4\text{\,th}}\pm 1.9\times 10^{3}\) & \(8.5\times 10^{4\text{\,th}}\pm 7.0\times 10^{4}\) & \(5.6\times 10^{4\text{\,th}}\pm 4.0\times 10^{2}\) \\
7 & \(4.9\times 10^{4\text{\,th}}\pm 2.9\times 10^{3}\) & \(1.7\times 10^{4\text{\,th}}\pm 2.9\times 10^{3}\) & \(2.3\times 10^{4\text{\,th}}\pm 3.6\times 10^{4}\) & \(1.0\times 10^{4\text{\,th}}\pm 9.4\times 10^{3}\) & \(2.5\times 10 no significant differences in the number of these bacteria (\(p>0.05\)) in meatballs with the addition of sage preparations. On day 14, the significantly (\(p<0.05\)) highest number of psychrotrophic bacteria was found in the SD meatballs (\(3.5\times 10^{5}\) CFU/g). The number of psychrotrophic bacteria significantly (\(p<0.05\)) differed only in SEE70 and SEO treatments in terms of storage time. A significant (\(p<0.05\)) increase in the number of psychrotrophic bacteria was observed in the SEE70 treatment between days 1 and 14 and in the SEO treatment between days 7 and 14. However, on day 14, both SEE70 and SEO meatballs had the lowest numbers of psychrotrophic bacteria (1.6 \(\times\) 10\({}^{4}\) and 2.7 \(\times\) 10\({}^{4}\) CFU/g, respectively). The growth of coliform bacteria in chicken meatballs was significantly (\(p<0.05\)) slowed down by the addition of sage preparations (Table 2), and this trend was maintained throughout the storage period. In the control treatment, the number of coliform bacteria ranged from \(9.6\times 10^{1}\) CFU/g (day 1) to \(1.7\times 10\) CFU/g (day 14), and in the products with sage preparation from \(1.0\times 10^{0}\) CFU/g (SEE40, SEE70, and SEO--on day one) up to \(4.4\times 10^{1}\) CFU/g (SE70--on day seven). Storage time did not significantly (\(p>0.05\)) influence the number of coliform bacteria in any of the tested meatball treatments, although the highest number of these bacteria was found in each treatment on the last day of storage. Sage preparations delayed the increase in the number of Enterobacteriaceae in chicken meatballs; however, compared to the control treatment, the significance of the differences in the number of these microorganisms depended on the type of sage preparation and the storage time of the meatballs (Table 2). SEE70 showed the highest efficiency in slowing down the growth and increase in the number of Enterobacteriaceae, which ranged from \(5.0\times 10^{0}\) CFU/g (day one) to \(1.0\times 10^{1}\) CFU/g (day seven). During storage, a significant (\(p<0.05\)) increase in the number of Enterobacteriaceae was found only in the control meatballs between days 7 and 14. On the other hand, there were insignificant changes (\(p>0.05\)) in the number of Enterobacteriaceae in chicken meatballs with the addition of various sage preparations, i.e., SD, SEE40, SEE70, and SEO, during storage. On day 14 of refrigerated storage, the number of Enterobacteriaceae in all types of chicken meatballs containing sage preparations was significantly (\(p<0.05\)) lower compared to the control. The sage preparations used in the study also showed antibacterial activity against enterococci (Table 2). The highest number of these microorganisms was observed in the control products on day seven (\(5.8\times 10^{1}\) CFU/g). Among the sage preparations used, SEO and both ethanol extracts were the most effective in inhibiting the growth of enterococci. In the SEO meatballs, the number of enterococci remained at \(1.0\times 10^{0}\) CFU/g throughout the storage period. Storage time did not have a significant (\(p>0.05\)) impact on the number of enterococci in any of the meatball treatments. Considering the type of sage preparation, dried sage (SD) was the least effective in inhibiting the growth of enterococci, with the number of these microorganisms in the SD product being close, i.e., insignificantly (\(p>0.05\)) different, to that of the control product throughout the storage period.