Natural Preservatives to Improve Food Quality and Safety

Food products can be contaminated by a variety of pathogenic and spoilage microbiota, the former causing foodborne diseases and the latter causing significant economic losses for the food industry due to undesirable effects on the food properties. Chemical compounds added to foods as antioxidant agents are also of concern and their safety and impact on human health is under discussion. For this reason, current trends in food processing are focusing on the use of natural compounds, which are considered as safe alternatives and satisfy the consumer preferences for more “green foods”. Their prospective use in the food production has the potential to lead towards the production of safer and healthier foods, not excluding their contribution to a more efficient preservation of the environment, when chemicals will be replaced with natural substances.