Evaluation of the Antioxidant Activity of the Essential Oil of Satureja hortensis on the Stability of Colza and Anchovy Oil

The consumers demand foods with high nutritional value that are free from chemical preservatives.This has led to numerous efforts to find natural antioxidants from herbal resources. Savory essence is a colorless to pale yellow liquid that contains phenolic compounds such as carvacrol, P-cymen and thymol that exhibit anti-oxidative and antimicrobial activities. The aim of this study is to quantify the phenolic compounds present in the essential oil of Satureja hortensis as a source of natural antioxidant and to examine its stabilising effect on colza and anchovy oils. The aerial parts of plant was collected, dried and the essential oils was extracted and analysed by GC/MS. Total content of phenolic compounds of the essential oils was determined by Folin-Ciocalteu method. The extracted essential oil was added to canola and anchovy oils at the concentrations of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3% and the antioxidant activities were measured and compared to the control and sample containing BHA. Peroxide value and tiobarbitoric acid value and induction period measurements by Rancimate were used as means to evaluate the antioxidant activities. Carvacrol, gamma-terpinene, alpha-terpinene and p-cymene were determined as the predominant compounds in the extracted essential oil. The total concentration of the phenolic compounds in the extracted oil was 0.739±0.27 mg/ml as Gallic Acid Equivalent. The added essential oil at the concentration of 0.3% exhibited the highest antioxidant activity in canola and anchovy oils. This study has indicated that the application of the natural essential oilsto suitable substances such as canola or anchovy oils in order to improve the stability of the oils and also to replace the synthetic antioxidants is desirable and preferred.